Strapped into my Nexis coupe, I've been motoring through newspaperreviews of "The Ladykillers," the new Coen Brothers concoction, and"Cold Mountain," the Weinstein brothers hit that wasn't, looking forcomments on their soundtracks -- both produced by T Bone Burnett. Ihad a feeling they weren't getting as much attention as theydeserved, and I was right.
Yes, the phenomenal success of Burnett's soundtrack for the Coens'"O Brother, Where Art Thou," which had mainstream listeners flockingto the recordings of country relics like Ralph Stanley, isyesterday's news. But you don't have to be carrying a roots-musictorch to recognize what a lift "The Ladykillers" gets from itsinfusions of gospel and blues, and ditto "Cold Mountain" from its pre-bluegrass country and folk.
It can even be argued that the music in these films, both newlyrecorded and drawn from the past, is the best thing about them andthere should have been more of it. (There is plenty of great materialon their respective soundtrack albums that didn't make the finalcinematic cut but could have.)
The "Ladykillers" CD, which ranges from the antique blues of BlindWillie Johnson to the hip-hopped gospel of Nappy Roots, is not quiteas rewarding as the "Cold Mountain" album, which has two real aces inits hole: the White Stripes' Jack White making a winning switch fromgarage rock to earthy fare like "Wayfaring Stranger" and a group ofSacred Harp singers opening ears with its a cappella folk hymns,recorded in a small church in Alabama.
Still, the music in "The Ladykillers," as sparingly applied as itis, is reason enough to see the film, which transfers the classic1955 British comedy starring Alec Guinness to modern Mississippi.Hamming it up with wheezes of laughter, odd head jerks and faketeeth, Tom Hanks plays a pedantic dandy who hires a bunch of misfitsto clean out the vault of a casino. They tunnel into it from thebasement of a feisty old Bible-thumping black woman (Irma P. Hall),whom they each try to knock off after she discovers they're notreally a classical music ensemble in need of a quiet rehearsal space.
As with the weakly conceived "O Brother," which would haveevaporated into thin air without the eerie essence of its mountainmusic, Burnett provides a soulful counterbalance to the goony anticsfavored by the Coens. No matter how cheap the film's humor gets in"The Ladykillers" -- and it doesn't get cheaper than when miningirritable bowel syndrome for yuks -- the soundtrack pulls it backfrom the far side of miscalculation by providing the humane spark theCoens are too gag-happy to bring to their characters.
While there's no doubting the pleasure the filmmakers took incapturing a joyous slice of African-American life -- the rousinggospel finale, set in a church, likely sent them home as happy as itdoes theatergoers -- the film can't avoid the taint of exploitingthat culture. Burnett's roots credibility is the Coens' bestinsurance against charges of indulging in precious stereotypes, andworse. If the film loved the Hall character as much as we're supposedto think it does, would it have made her quite so dim?
"Cold Mountain," a lush, strenuously romantic adaptation ofCharles Frazier's Civil War bestseller, required counterbalancing ofa different order from its musical contributors. For beginners, theyscratched against the big-budget production's photogenic realism --or, in the case of Nicole Kidman's peachy keen complexion and super-whitened teeth, photogenic surrealism -- with their down-home grit.(The film would have you believe that a few years of hardship on theold farm is better than Botox for a fair-skinned beauty'scomplexion.)
White, Alison Krauss, the Sacred Harp singers (directed by thetalented Tim Eriksen, who dubbed the singing parts for BrendanGleeson's Stobrod) and the fiddle and banjo duo of Stuart Duncan andDirk Powell also invest the film with the intangible Americanqualities and insights that can't help eluding screenwriter-directorAnthony Minghella and leading man Jude Law, who are British, andKidman, who spent her formative years in Australia. The fact that thefilm was shot in Romania made it even more reliant on authenticAmerican sounds.
What's so distinctive about Burnett's approach to roots music (aterm he himself has no use for) is that as indebted to tradition ashe is, he actively avoids anything that smacks of high-minded"purity." His aim is to blend elements of the past and present into avital hybrid. He once said that in recording one of the timelesstunes in "O Brother," he treated it like it was rock 'n' roll, seeingit in the same sphere as a Traffic song. And, indeed, singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell remarked that "Man of Constant Sorrow," assung by Dan Tyminski, "ranks with 'My Sharona,' 'Whole Lotta Shakin'Goin' On' and 'She Loves You' in its immediacy."
Whoever said that lightning doesn't strike twice knew what theywere talking about. The success of the "O Brother" album has not beenduplicated by the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack, despite a quick flurryof stories about Sacred Harp music and efforts to sell and pre-sellthe film and music in the same way as "O Brother." And "TheLadykillers" CD likely won't do as well as the "Cold Mountain"soundtrack.
But not everything can be measured in numbers. As a direct resultof Burnett's film work (including his wide-ranging soundtrack for theera-spanning "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"), all manner oftraditional American music has a higher profile than it's had inyears. And he is hardly finished fighting this good fight. DMZ, theColumbia Records-associated label that he and the Coens formed in thewake of "O Brother," recently released an intriguing album ofcontemporized blues, spirituals and gospel by Ollabelle, a collectiveNew York ensemble featuring Amy Helm, daughter of the Band's LevonHelm.
More movie projects will undoubtedly follow, maybe one about realmusicians. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants? The reviewers wouldhave no choice but to open their ears.
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