INSTINCT

DANNY ELFMAN

Rating:

Original Review: Here's a statement that'll make your toes curl: Instinct is Danny Elfman's best score in six years. Whoa! Hold on a minute! We didn't see that one coming! What about his Oscar nominations, Good Will Hunting and Men In Black? What about Black Beauty and Dolores Claiborne? What about Mission Impossible, widely regarded as one of the best action thriller scores in years? What about A Civil Action and A Simple Plan, two of his recent complex dramas? Well, in the opinion of this reviewer, Instinct blows each and every one of those worthy scores out of the water with its combination of soaring strings, passionate brasses, African percussion and that heavenly, heavenly female choir which hasn't been used to this extent since Edward Scissorhands almost a decade ago.

Instinct, directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Gerald Di Pego from the novel by Daniel Quinn, could be quickly summarised as The Silence of the Lambs meets Gorillas In The Mist meets The Shawshank Redemption, but the film is so much more than that. It stars Anthony Hopkins as a professor and anthropologist who, while on one of his many research trips to central Africa, vanishes into the Rwandan jungle and is not seen or heard from again for two years. When he does re-emerge, he is a wild man: mute, savage, unkempt, and bloodied from having killed three men with a wooden club. Deemed insane, he is returned to the USA and imprisoned in a brutal institution to await trial for murder. While there, a young and eager psychiatrist (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is assigned to his case, and vows to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the professor's disappearance and the subsequent murders.

The thing about Instinct is that, as well as being a fascinating character study, it has also a lot to say about life and the way people are losing touch with the world around them. A poignant sub-plot of the film focuses on a the treatment of Hopkins' fellow inmates at the hands of a brutal prison guard (John Ashton), and the way in which Gooding and fellow psychiatrist George Dzundza attempt to reform the archaic system. It makes for an intriguing parallel to the main story of Hopkins' self-imposed exile with the mountain gorillas - as Hopkins discovers his own humanity while isolated from it, the ones subjected to human interference every day of their lives find that theirs is slowly but surely being stripped away.

The thing that Instinct has in abundance, and what makes it stand head and shoulders above Elfman's other recent scores, is pure, old-fashioned beauty. The two heartbreaking brass themes, heard primarily in 'Everybody Goes' and 'Escape', are without doubt the most memorable musical moments of the entire film, and rank amongst some of the most attractive and inspiring pieces Elfman has ever written. Both times, while I sat in the darkness of the cinema, the music made my spine tingle. The former, which builds from a soft drone into a triumphant trumpet solo, underscores the moment in the prison where the unjust "playing card" regime is broken by the inmates in a rare show of solidarity and defiance of brutality, while the latter underscores the film's conclusion, rising to a glorious crescendo which knowingly alludes (both visually and musically) to the famous scene in The Shawshank Redemption where Tim Robbins stands alone in the rain, arms spread wide, face to the sky, celebrating his own freedom.

Percussion - lots of it, and in many different styles - feature during 'Into The Wild', 'Back To The Forest' and the 'End Credits', adding a series of dynamic rhythms to the warm brass melodies, lively strings and tiny, dancing piano and flute motifs that are prevalent throughout. When the choir comes in with a four-note vocal motif two minutes into the first track, the effect is astonishing - a wholly natural, organic sound which effortlessly captures the unspoiled beauty and allure of the rain forest. These superb choral effects, which begin within seconds of the 'Main Title' commencing and are featured in just about every track on the album, do wonders to increase the score's overall sense of awe and grandeur. Only during 'The Killing' and 'The Riot' does the score abandon its tranquil nature and embrace dissonance, but both cues are marvellous examples of Elfman's action style, pulsating to several immense sets of African drums while the orchestra churns and bubbles in chaotic delight around the rhythmic core. In 'The Riot', it is also perhaps worth noting the inclusion of a ragged-sounding flute into the mix. I don't think its use has any particular significance, but it is yet another example of Elfman and his team constantly coming up with new and interesting orchestrations to fill out their scores.

As this is a 1990s Elfman score, and as he is unlikely to abandon totally his style of late, there are several reflections of recent scores such as the aforementioned A Simple Plan and A Civil Action, especially the use of woodwinds in short, shrill bursts and the way in which the music is layered, with three or four distinct, conflicting styles sitting neatly on top of one another, playing at the same time. But, whereas in several of these recent scores this style has sounded jarring and rather off-putting, for some reason the effect is the exact opposite here. The clashing themes seem to have more purpose, as if signifying the merging of two wildly opposing cultures, and come across as being more natural and less abrasive as a result.

The only thing wrong with Instinct as an album is the fact that it is woefully short, and misses out at least half a dozen sensational cues, including some powerful action material and several knockout "tense" themes which underscore the electrified meetings between Hopkins and Gooding. Nevertheless, I am still going to give Instinct five stars, simply because this has been the first score for many months to make me sit back in sheer awe upon hearing the music for the first time. Not since Sommersby in 1993, and Edward Scissorhands before that, has an Elfman score been able to totally capture my attention and transfix me with this much grace and elegance.

Track Listing: Running Time: 38 minutes 38 seconds

Varése Sarabande VSD-6041 (1999)

Music composed by Danny Elfman. Conducted by Pete Anthony. Orchestrations by Steve Bartek, David Slonaker, Edgardo Simone and Mark McKenzie. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Bob Badami and Jennifer Nash. Mastered by Patricia Sullivan. Album produced by Danny Elfman.

Cinemusic Online: Review by Helen San
Filmtracks: Review by Mike Dougherty
Movie Wave: Review by James Southall
Score!: Review by Andreas Lindahl
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