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Track
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Duration
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1. | If I Could Kiss You | | 3:39 |
2. | Round Robin | | 2:56 |
3. | Tear It Down | | 4:04 |
4. | Love is Not Enough | | 3:04 |
5. | I'm Happy Today | | 3:12 |
6. | A Leap | | 1:04 |
7. | Sunscreen and Bicycles | | 2:57 |
8. | A Promise | | 3:31 |
9. | Build This House With Me | | 2:15 |
10. | Leap of Faith | | 3:16 |
11. | Building a Family | | 1:56 |
12. | I'll Take This One | | 4:05 |
13. | I Built Myself a Life | | 5:47 |
| | | 41:46 |
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Life as a House stars Kevin Kline (and the soon to be incredibly famous Hayden Christensen) as a man dying of cancer who uses his final time to build his dream house. If it all sounds like the kind of film that could turn TV movie quality very easily, then I'm assured that it's very good, although it doesn't appear to have hit the UK's cinemas yet. It's also the type of film that could easily get a drippy, sentimental score, but fortunately it has a Mark Isham score instead.
In fairness, things don't start promisingly with a light synth percussion line, but fortunately Isham merely uses it as a gentle backing to the acoustic instruments. It works as a kind of pulse in the background, almost leading from behind. In some ways it reminds me of Jeff Beal's superlative Pollock, but I suspect that to most it recalls Michael Nyman in more romantic mood. This style of writing means that unlike any number of James Horner's quiet drama efforts, the music keeps moving and doesn't bog down in endless repeats of the main theme. While it would be unfair to say there aren't memorable themes, they certainly aren't the type that stick in the mind easily. Isham's music plays in a way that in the moment it is rather wonderful, but it covers its tracks leaving memories of its overall feel than any specific moment.
While Isham keeps the music from grinding to a halt, it obviously has some slower as well as more propulsive sections. The most memorable of the latter is certainly the joyous A Leap where the Nyman/Beal type of sound is most prominent, albeit at a mostly superficial level. I think it would be more than reasonable to add Isham's list to the illustrious selection of composers (the R Newmans and E Bernsteins of this world) who can pull this kind of intimate and dramatic score off without it either being overly mawkish or just plain tedious. It's a difficult balancing act, but with this, October Sky and the infuriatingly unreleased Fly Away Home, Isham demonstrates that he really is a composer of some note, in marked contrast to the fairly unexceptional thriller Don't Say A Word released around the same time, which doesn't. Life as a House, however, is highly recommended.
The music of this soundtrack was used in:
Spanglish (Trailer)
Other releases of Life as a House (2001):