Original Review by Jonathan BroxtonGolden Gate is a romantic drama written by acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang, and directed John Madden. The film is set in San Francisco in the 1950s and stars Matt Dillon as FBI Agent Kevin Walker, who is sent with his partner to investigate potential links between the residents of San Francisco’s Chinatown and the emerging communist ‘threat’ posed by Chairman Mao’s China. His investigation leads to the prosecution and eventual imprisonment of several local residents on trumped-up charges, one of whom – Chen Jung Song – is clearly innocent. A decade later, Song and his cohorts are released, but Song has never recovered from his ordeal, and Walker watches as he jumps to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge. In the aftermath of this, Walker meets Song’s daughter Marilyn (Joan Chen), and the two of them unexpectedly embark on a torrid love affair – an affair which eventually causes Walker to begin to question his ethics and morals, and the part he played in her father’s death.
It’s a good, interesting film, which explores some deep issues related to race, politics, and the 1950s Communist Red Scare, and even has some overtones of Chinese mythology, but unfortunately it wasn’t a success at the box office, and ultimately grossed less than $500,000. One of its most interesting elements, for me, is it’s score, which was written by Elliot Goldenthal. Romantic dramas are not a genre that most people associated with Goldenthal in 1994; his work prior to this was confined to the horror and action genres through scores like Alien 3 and Demolition Man, and his aggressive, challenging, avant-garde tendencies did not seem to be a good fit for this sensitive film, at least on paper.
However, against all expectation, Golden Gate works perfectly as a vehicle for the more understated side of Goldenthal’s music, as a reflection of both Chinese culture and the relationship between Walker and Marilyn. Goldenthal expertly enhances both the period setting and the film noir undertones of the law enforcement investigation story with performances for a jazzy, sultry solo saxophone. Then, in the cues where he blends this sound with the influences of Chinese classical and folk music, the effect is fascinating.
For me, the two highlights are the sibling cues, “Between Bridge and Water” and “Between Bridge and Sky,” both of which are emotionally poignant and tinged with a clear sense of sadness. Solo woodwind performances backed by slow, lyrical strings highlight these sequences, and fans of Goldenthal’s work may notice that both cues have tonal similarities to the finale of Alien 3 – which, of course, also contains a scene of a specific character plummeting to their doom from a high metallic walkway. This sense of beautiful anguish is really quite outstanding, and although they never quite reach the operatic heights of Alien 3, they are nevertheless impressive, and showcase a very different side to Goldenthal’s sound.
The cues which explore the shifting dynamics of the relationship between Walker and Marilyn include the opening title track “Golden Gate,” and then later cues such as “Tender Deception,” “The Moon Watches, and “Whisper Dance”. Here, Goldenthal blends lovely writing for gentle, intimate, solo flutes and warm beds of strings with an array plucked Chinese instruments, which allows the music develop an unusually calm and reflective atmosphere that I greatly appreciate.
Elsewhere, cues like “The Women Cries” and “The Softest Heart” blend these romantic tones with more sultry saxophone jazz, lyrical, textural, and enticing. This music in part represents the troubled investigation being led by Agent Walker, and how the requirements of his professional life brings him into conflict with both the woman he loves and the Chinese immigrant community he comes to respect. This music, while more tonally pleasing, is also more melancholic, representative of Walker’s deteriorating mental and emotional state; by the time the “Kwan Ying” cue comes around, the saxophone elegance slowly descends into saxophone dissonance and becomes jagged and frenetic, a reflection of the similar state of Walker’s mind.
Speaking of more aggressive saxophone jazz, “Bopathonix Hex” is a fun piece – rhythmic, jazzy, upbeat, a little avant-garde – but “Motel Street Meltdown” is a certifiable oddity; Goldenthal’s attempt to capture one Walker’s lowest points in terms of his mental health sees him blending the jazz textures with an angry vocal performance by Goldenthal himself, who records himself in the background babbling and mumbling various words that appear to emerging at random from Walker’s mind. Thankfully, “Judgement on Mason Street” restores order with an dramatic orchestral performance underpinned with a sense of seriousness and profundity, and then the aforementioned “Between Bridge and Sky” ends the score on a solemn, thoughtful, tonally pleasing note.
When you look at Elliot Goldenthal’s career in totality, Golden Gate clearly doesn’t rank among his most acclaimed works. It wasn’t even his best score of 1994 – that accolade, of course, goes to the masterpiece Interview With the Vampire. But what Golden Gate did do was give Goldenthal the opportunity to explore things in a slightly more understated, emotionally resonant, culturally sensitive way. Like I said that the beginning of the review, romantic dramas are not a genre that most people associate with Goldenthal, but for some reason I have always held Golden Gate in a positive high regard. The soft and contemplative drama and romance moments balance well with the musical expressions of Chinese culture and the jazzy representations of the period, resulting in a score which will appeal to anyone who wants to explore a different side of Goldenthal’s sound.
Buy the Golden Gate soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store
Track Listing:
- Golden Gate (3:34)
- The Women Cries (3:33)
- Between Bridge and Water (1:54)
- Tender Deception (3:34)
- Bopathonix Hex (2:48)
- The Woman Warrior (2:30)
- The Softest Heart (3:45)
- The Moon Watches (1:43)
- Whisper Dance (1:51)
- Kwan Ying (2:47)
- Motel Street Meltdown (1:24)
- Judgement on Mason Street (2:03)
- Write It As Time (0:28)
- Between Bridge and Sky (2:51)
Running Time: 31 minutes 25 seconds
Varese Sarabande VSD-5470 (1994)
Music composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Conducted by Jonathan Sheffer. Orchestrations by Elliot Goldenthal and Robert Elhai. Recorded and mixed by Steve McLaughlin. Edited by XXXX. Album produced by Elliot Goldenthal and Matthias Gohl.