Contact

After sweeping the Oscars with Forrest Gump, film goers were eager to see what Robert Zemeckis would come up with next, but for some reason, his adaptation of Carl Sagan's weighty sci-fi novel, Contact, didn't really inspire audiences. I think it was just a tad too cerebral and wanted to answer deeply philosophical questions, as opposed to Spielberg's somewhat similar Close Encounters which put ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances that, only at the end, could they comprehend. Although it never quite reached the depth it aspired to, the good performances from Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey and smart plot made for an pleasingly thoughtful science fiction tale, a million miles from the bombast of similar films around the same time such as Independence Day.

Alan Silvestri's music was surprisingly badly spotted in the film on a number of occasions, moments that seemed to require music were silent and yet other moments had music that didn't feel right at all. This is a one off in the Zemeckis-Silvestri collaboration in that regard, the spotting is usually credible pleasingly restrained. However, in pure musical terms, the score is much more successful. The opening does rather wreak of Forrest Gump, the piano melody almost a variant on its more successful predecessor's main theme, the similar arrangement doesn't help. Fortunately, beyond that, Silvestri delivers a generally gentle, occasionally tense, but always effective score. It's surprising how appropriate it seems on disc compared to how unsuitable it sometimes seems in the film.

It is good to note how far Silvestri's action music has come from his not so subtle Back to the Future drums and brass hits. Ellie's Bogey (no laughing please) is a John Adams style string loop with urgent brass cadences overlayed to increase the tension. A surprising and different way to score action. Most of the score is either quite low key strings or modestly urgent suspense. There aren't many synths, but The Primer and Good to Go both feature a pulsing bass line, plus occasional washes of perhaps slightly cliché spacey sounds, although these are understated and effective. Test Run Bomber also edges up the suspense quite well, with gentle strings soon giving way to dissonance and the bass line featuring almost as a nervous heart beat.

The End Credits suite has become a sci-fi compilation staple, maybe its relative gentility is seen as a good alternative to the usual percussion and brass of the average sci-fi score. It does nicely bring together the best melodic material of the score, while expanding it into a proper suite and making a nice change from the usual cut and paste job afforded to most credits. Forrest Gump was something of a watershed for Silvestri and almost all of his scores since have been of a high calibre and Contact is no exception. It doesn't have the incredible scope and ambition of Williams' Close Encounters, but is modest and, aside from the occasional appearance of the main theme, a generally unsentimental score that doesn't attempt to be too flashy or overwrought.