‘Rover’ soundtrack fits Guy Pearce’s jarring film
Like many postapocalyptic films, “The Rover” opens quietly. Guy Pearce’s drifter lives in a dusty near future uncluttered by our present population and the electronic stimuli it generates.
But David Michôd’s film doesn’t take long to break its silence with a rattling act of violence, at which point “The Rover” becomes a road movie informed by striking aggression. Pearce’s character, Eric, pursues his stolen car with wounded young Rey (a daring Robert Pattinson nicely putting distance between himself and his vampire past) in tow. The small cast — perhaps a dozen speaking parts — elevates the remaining sounds in the film. Among the most effective tools Michôd applies is music, to entrancing and unnerving effect.
Music shouldn’t distract from a narrative but rather contribute to its mood. Pieces of film score can be memorable on their own — such as John Williams’ rousing work on “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Other times they’re best used to unsettling ends, like the bare-bones piano tinkling in “Halloween.” The music in that influential slasher flick heightens the film’s tension by infusing fragility. It creates an unreliable calm.
Last year’s independent breakout “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” built a similar mood. Young Dallas composer Daniel Hart created a serene score that threatened to teeter over by punctuating understated instrumentation with hand claps.
The music in “The Rover,” which opens Friday, goes for a different effect, one closer to the score for “There Will Be Blood.” In that film Jonny Greenwood’s atonal music mirrors the singleminded ruthlessness of the film’s protagonist. It’s harsh and lacking any warmth.
Early in “The Rover” a