Hana-Bi

HANA-BI
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Copyright © 1998 Polydor
POCH-1672
Available in Japan: 98-1-1
¥ 3,059

—by Geir Friestad

1. HANA-BI 3:45

2. Angel 2:45

3. Sea of Blue 3:32

4. ...and Alone 2:31

5. Ever Love 2:18

6. Painters 5:59

7. Smile and Smile 2:59

8. Heaven's Gate 5:01

9. Tenderness 2:34

10. Thank You.... for Everything 7:12

11. HANA-BI(reprise) 3:42

While most anime fans primarily recognize Hisaishi Joe as the genius director Miyazaki Hayao's choice of soundtrack composer, he does not work exclusively for the Ghibli gods. In 1991, he formed a working relationship with popular writer/director/actor Kitano Takeshi, who asked him to score his masterful surfer-drama ANO NATSU, ICHIBAN SHIZUKANA UMI (A SCENE AT THE SEA). Since then, Hisaishi has scored all but one of Kitano's movies, including the director's latest and greatest hit, HANA-BI, which recently enjoyed a limited theatrical run in the USA as FIREWORKS.
Hisaishi fans familiar with the composer's Ghibli scores will immediately recognize his Kitano scores as somewhat familiar territory. The ways in which the themes and cues are constructed are similar, but they are also at the same time radically different. Kitano's movie are all, with the exception of 1995's MINNA YATTERUKA! (GETTING ANY?!), bleak dramas photographed and edited in a slow, lingering style, and this is reflected and accented in Hisaishi's scores. In other words, the Kitano scores showcase the darker sides of Hisaishi that we mostly just get short glimpses of in his Studio Ghibli work.
The HANA-BI soundtrack starts off with the slow-moving and sweeping main theme, which sets the standard for the rest of the album. The track is primarily symphonic in nature, only occasionally giving way to a soft, wooden flute, or playful plucking strings, like the ones he used to illustrate the Kodama, the playful forest spirits in MONONOKE HIME. The overall feeling conveyed by the track is not a happy one, however, and despite the playful interludes, it is clear already from the start that this story will not have a happy ending.
This feeling is carried over into the next track, ANGEL, which pretty much follows the conventions of the first track, adding to the somber atmosphere.
SEA OF BLUE, the third track, adds a subdued piano and a sad sounding, solitary harmonica, effectively conjuring up images of a lonely figure, gazing out over a vast, possibly threatening ocean from the fragile safety of the beach (a reccuring motif in all of Kitano's movies, incidentally).
The next two tracks, ...AND ALONE and EVER LOVE, return to the sweeping and somewhat restrained symphonic nature of the first tracks, with perhaps ...AND ALONE being the darker of the two.
PAINTERS, the sixth track, is lighter in tone. In the movie, it is used to score a scene where one of the characters, a recently crippled police officer, rediscovers a little faith in life again through painting. The track has a "bouncy" feel to it, although with dark, symphonic undercurrents attached.
The remainder of the score consists of tracks from the end of the movie, which primarily shows Kitano's character trying to give his wife, who is dying of cancer, a worthy end to her life by taking her on a second, and final, honeymoon.
SMILE AND SMILE, HEAVEN'S GATE and TENDERNESS are all very much in the same vein as the previous tracks, alternating between sweeping symphonics and the occasional playful plucking strings, with the decidedly downbeat track ten, THANK YOU... FOR EVERYTHING rounding off the score in a somewhat surprising way (especially if you haven't seen the movie). The eleventh and final track is the end credits reprise of the main theme.
HANA-BI is definitely not Hisaishi's strongest soundtrack work so far. It works really well within the frame of the movie, but on CD it is perhaps a tad too anonymous-sounding to really stand out in any way, especially compared to the composer's previous efforts (particularly his excellent KIDS RETURN score). It is not without its merits, however. It works great as soothing and non-intrusive music to play in the background while working, studying or reading a good book, and fans of the composer will no doubt enjoy this score, despite its minor weaknesses. This reviewer certainly does not regret spending his hard-earned money on it, at least.