Dark, depressing, captivating, thrilling

Rating: Null/10 (5 April 1999)

1995 was the best year for movies since the 1970s. Think about it: "Clockers", "The Usual Suspects", "Heat", "Seven", "Die Hard With a Vengeance" all came out that year. Even the Academy Award picked films were top-drawer: "Braveheart", "Casino", "Leaving Las Vegas", "Dead Man Walking", "Babe", the list goes on.
In choosing the best film of the year, I keep wavering between "Seven", "Heat" and "Clockers". Right now I've elected "Heat", but "Seven" is close on its heals. This, to quote Roger Ebert, is filmmaking of a high order. Of all the skillfully crafted scenes and shots in the film, I will talk about two.
The opening scene is wonderful--it's not a car chase, it's Morgan Freeman's Detective Somerset getting ready for his last day at work. I remember the camera gazing down on his dresser, upon which is carefully arranged his "stuff"--the things he carries around on his person on a typical day. I can't recall what the things were, exactly, I just remember what an odd, familiar feel the camera gave them. Morgan Freeman assembles his detective with care: we know before a word is spoken this is his last day on the job. His precision is reminiscent of the end of the "Quentin" chapter in Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury", where Quentin does all of his day-to-day tasks, right down to brushing his teeth and inquiring about the correct time, just before.....
The other scene is the library scene. It'd be fair to say that any modern film sequence that features Bach's "Suite No 3 in D-major, BMV 1068: Air" might be raised to the level of classic pop art, and in this case, you'd be right. Bach is strangely appropriate here, and totally appropriate for the film. So is Trent Reznor, who contributed the music for the titles. What is the purpose of the scene? Not much, just some guys looking stuff up in the city library. Is it gloomily beautiful, sad, and memorable? Absolutely.
A few words on film music. Critics tried to tell us that "Seven"'s soundtrack was a mish-mash of classic and modern styles, serving only as a fishing net to catch fancy of as many moviegoers' tastes as possible. Negative, ghostrider, the pattern is full. If I had to criticize "Seven"'s music, I would say: a director like David Fincher, who clearly takes soundtrack selection seriously, is apt to inspire copycats the way Tarantino did after "Pulp Fiction". Fresh film school graduates who imagine they possess eclectic tastes ("yeah, I listen to Mozart and Metallica and all that") will inevitably be inspired to try and duplicate Fincher's scoring. It can't be done: movies aren't just clotheslines for catchy pop tunes and the random selection from "Classical Music For Dummies". Anyone who studies film will agree with me when I say that the music, like the cinematography, must suit the story and the scene, not the other way around.
To sum up, "Seven" is a first-rate detective story, the best since "Kiss Me Deadly". Performances, photography, Oscar-nominated editing, and (of course) music are all tops.