THE SPACE BETWEEN US.

 

 

THE SPACE BETWEEN US, is a science fiction romance. The central character Gardener Elliot (Asa Butterfield) is the first human to be born on Mars, in his teens he begins an online friendship with a young girl on Earth, Tulsa, (Britt Robertson) who lives in Colorado. Gardener takes his first trip to Earth where he wants to experience all the sights sounds and smells he has up until then only read about. But the 16-year-old runs into problems when scientists discover that his organs are unable to withstand the earth’s atmosphere. He goes on the run with Tulsa, and must race the clock to discover how he came to be and if he belongs anywhere on earth or Mars. Directed by Peter Chelson, this is a weepy but a somewhat predictable tale, but I am sure it will be a popular picture. The original musical score is by composer Andrew Lockington and contains songs by Ingrid Michaelson, Borns, Banners, James Bay and The Crystal Fighters. I must say I normally don’t like the mix of songs and score but in this case Lockington’s music is complimented and embellished by these vocal performances which are quite gentle, simple, and easy going. SMALLEST LIGHT and STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE being most prominent and affecting both being performed by Ingrid Michaelson. The original music is in a word a delight to listen to. The composer fusing both symphonic and synthetic elements to create a delicate and at times highly emotive work, that at times can be filled with a sound and aura that relays wonderment or fragility, it is alluring and somewhat beguiling, the music drawing one in and surrounding you with a calming and tranquil atmosphere. Andrew Lockington has worked on many motion pictures as well as scoring TV shows and he is for me a composer of note, his score for SKINWALKERS for example is one of the most atmospheric horror scores of recent years, with his eerie and disturbing score for INCARNATE in 2016 adding weight to his already impressive CV. THE SPACE BETWEEN US is a subdued score for the most part of its duration, with occasional mini eruptions of action music or darker passages being introduced as it progresses. This style of scoring works wonderfully, the composer building his themes slowly but surely and adding nuances and hints of themes throughout which holds the attention of the listener. In many ways, the style that the composer has employed is comparable to that of Thomas Newman in places, it is a delicate and poignant score for the most part, and although this is a grower as in it grows on the listener over time, I did find myself returning to a few of the cues straight after they had finished. Another score worth checking out.

TRACK LISTING.

Smallest Light (Ingrid Michaelson)
3:37
2.
At Home (Crystal Fighters)
5:06
3.
10,000 Emerald Pools (BØRNS)
2:55
4.
Shine a Light (Banners)
4:39
5.
Stay Right Where You Are (Ingrid Michaelson)
4:41
6.
Need the Sun to Break (James Bay)
3:46
7.
I Want to Go to Mars
6:03
8.
Meet Gardner
2:15
9.
Oh Caro Sollievo (Maeve Palmer)
2:05
10.
First Skype
3:12
11.
The Rover
3:16
12.
Coming to See You
3:29
13.
No One Has to Know
5:04
14.
Biplane
3:51
15.
Fall to Earth
2:50
16.
Confetti to Vegas
4:39
17.
Ocean
5:24
18.
Race to Save Gardner
4:19
19.
Hand on Knee

THE GREAT WALL.

 

 

THE GREAT WALL is set a thousand years ago, or so we are led to believe, and the events that unfold are obviously true, ummm, well let’s forget about the movie and skip to the score, or at least let’s just say the movie has done reasonably well at the box office and its essentially a great piece of adventure and escapism produced by American and Chinese filmmakers and starring Matt Damon. The music was originally destined to be provided by the great James Horner, but because of the sad events which are all aware of this was not possible. Music is by flavour of the month composer, Ramin Djawadi, of course he has made a name for himself scoring that popular TV series GAME OF THRONES plus a few other movies along the way, that include PACIFIC RIM, CLASH OF THE TITANS, DRACULA UNTOLD and FRIGHT NIGHT to name a handful. THE GREAT WALL is to be fair a good action score, in fact it is pretty much wall to wall action as far as the score goes. Its brassy, percussive and contains the odd little respite or interlude where we are treated to little glimpses of melodies which are of a more forgiving and lilting nature. The score opens with NAMELESS ORDER, which is introduced by choir which is childlike in its performance and overall sound, this quiet and quite calming opening soon builds into something that is more powerful and action orientated, percussive elements underline driving strings, whilst the choral performance continues but becomes louder and more pronounced, strings add their weight to the proceedings giving the piece a more urgent persona that becomes rich and almost luxurious. Orchestra takes on the theme created by the choir and this is expanded upon and developed, finally as the cue reaches its end the choir returns and once again becomes the mainstay of the piece. The next cue is the PROLOGUE which is the scores secondary theme, this is action through and through, the composer creating a driving and unrelenting composition, which relies once again on percussion, strings and horns to purvey a sense of urgency and power. Track three WHAT A WALL melds into track two or so it seems when listening to the score, again action led with brass and strings being given a thundering and highly rhythmic support by the percussion. The themes that the composer has fashioned for this movie are hard hitting but at the same time are relatively simply and straight forward, in many ways this is a return to the style of film scoring that we know and love from the 70’s through to the late 80’s where soundtracks still contained themes that one could hear developing and growing throughout the score. The film is essentially a bit of fun, but it’s a bit of high octane sometimes violent imagery, which does not take a lot of concentration to view. The score too is pretty down to earth and it does what it is supposed to, it underlines the action, enhances the lighter moments and overall works as a film score and also as music to listen to without any of the images. Well worth checking out.