Although movie-goers have to wait until Christmas Day to check out Brad Pitt portraying the title character in the tale of a man who ages backwards, music lovers can get their hands on the soundtrack from the movie today.
The two CD set features the score by Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat on disc one and a collection of songs and dialogue snippets from the film on disc two. To mirror Benjamin's retrograde existence, Desplat created a main theme that can be played backwards as well as forwards. Other themes come and go, and chords switch from major to minor, as the clock ticks and characters disappear from the story.
Desplat's haunting score is complemented by music by Louis Armstrong, the Preservation Jazz Hall Band and even The Platters--evoking the melodies and milieu of New Orleans as well as the moments in time of Benjamin's life. According to Desplat:
"The movie has everything that a film can offer to a composer: A humanistic script by Eric Roth of a man's epic journey living his life biologically in reverse through a century, a heartbreaking love story played with intensity by two of the most glamorous and gifted actors of our times, the pulse of jazz in the city where he was born, a twist of witty humor, the metaphysical question of death, and the pure visual magic created by a genius director."Whether or not the film turns out to be the brilliant epic of Desplat's assessment, there's no doubt from the pieces I've seen that it looks spectacular. And, after listening to the soundtrack, it sounds spectacular as well.
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