For the first time tonight, I saw Presumed Innocent, a legal potboiler with Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, and Harrison Ford - one of his better films.  The cinematography was a perfect bridge between the naturalistic aesthetics of the 70's and the more design-oriented contrasting shape-over-form of noir filmmaking.  Compositionally, it gave some beautiful long shots and 30's like coverage, bringing them together with naturalistic but directional lighting, and exquisite use of color.  Then it broke up the action with Perry Mason-like insert reveals.  The script was deceptive, engrossing, fun, and layered.  It's not perfect, but it's a breathtaking film, in love with it's roots and the talent behind it.  Pure cinema, as they say

Beyond all that, however, the high point of the film was the score by John Williams, which seemed to dance on the line between doubt and sincerity - madness and purity.  Punctuated by a delicate piano theme, like a recurring dream that brings unease, the score serves us the emotional throughline of the piece and then breaks it up, like a drama constantly subverting itself with those notes that remind us that we're really watching a murder mystery.  We are told by the music that everyone is telling the truth, and then reminded, maddeningly, that someone is lying.  For all his successful bombast, and for all the scenes in this film that pass without music, this is one of John Williams' very best scores.  It stands as strong a piece of music as anything he's written, and it serves the film perfectly.

This kind of delicate work, and in particular the exquisite use of piano, reminds us of things we might well forget, and is exactly the kind of masterful touch that can elevate the drama of Receiver.  As an audience we have no reason to trust Walter, but as a human being, Andy does.  In the score, I can maintain that balance and keep both worlds alive.  Through music, I can give Andy his space and his privacy, so he can believe in things we can't.  At the same time, I can give us, the grown-ups watching, validation in our doubt.  Receiver may be the opposite of a mystery, but it is the opposite.  Everything is as it appears, which is why we don't trust it and why we doubt our hearts when we see the ending.  That doubt is what makes the movie so provocative and important, and I can honor our doubt without giving into it.  Just like John Williams honors innocence, without ever giving in.  Beautiful.  I need the score for a small human tragedy - something with finality - but with a whisper of hope, repeating itself again and again, that finally comes into it's own in the closing credits.

I may change my mind, but it's a thought.

Thank you for the eye-opener, John Williams.  Thank you also for the fantastic music, and for helping the great work by all the talented cast and crew of Presumed Innocent live and breathe on the screen.