The Notebook

I'm not sure how I missed this one a few years ago — hm, maybe the fact that I don't go to weepy chick flicks has something to do with it — but I've been very taken with Aaron Zigman's classy score for The Notebook. Andy Dursin of FSM commented on this one:

On the downside, "The Notebook" suffers from somewhat of a disjointed finale, which goes on a bit too long and could have been more effectively handled. Another disappointment is the forgettable, overly-restrained score by Aaron Zigman. Here's a movie just crying out for a sweeping, memorable main theme and occasional moments of dramatic power, and yet Zigman's score is so quiet and disposable you hardly realize it's in the movie.

Which is more proof that Dursin needs a hearing aid, something I've increasingly thought reading his DVD reviews lately. The restraint is something that movie music of this type desperately needs these days; this is the sort of score where you realize that a lot of better-known composers are only trying to write the type of music that this guy manages to nail. I don't seek out this kind of slow, low-key, string-driven sentimental romance music as a rule, but this score immediately caught my ear as unusually high quality for the genre - at least, not sounding quite like anyone else. I'm curious to hear more by Zigman (he's scoring Akeelah and the Bee, a movie I probably will definitely be seeing - as I was once in the National Spelling Bee myself and want to see if they'll get it right).