Make Way For Vanity Fair!
Step aside for the latest period piece adapted from popular book to big screen. These sophisticated flicks beg viewers to see their "artistic" qualities, and Vanity Fair does the job, dazzling us with pretty pictures filled with bright, colorful costumes and locations, all beautifully underscored by the music of Mychael Danna. Embracing an undeniable optimism, Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon) maneuvers 19th century British social circles with required (and shrewd) ambition to make it to the top. The Vanity Fair soundtrack CD (Decca Records) captures the brooding spirit of Sharp's social climb from poorest of the poor to lofty perch in high society. Danna's score energetically and elegantly manifests itself through a lofty, classically-inspired main theme, cleverly orchestrated in countless ways (sometimes fully orchestral, other times solo piano, not to mention a bass Irish flute rendition). Several songs dashed throughout the CD, including tunes by Sissel, Custer LaRue and Hakim, do not threaten or interrupt the stunning score, although the CD ends with a distinct Indian flair (thank you Mira Nair). Fans of Rachel Portman, who's scored many of these types of period films, or of Georges Delerue, the late French composer whose music exudes emotion like none other, will find absolute joy within all the notes of this score, one of our favorites of the year.
PK (9/7/2004)see all reviews, or add a review
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