Punch Drunk Love (Score)
By turns bold, sentimental, and decidedly loopy, director Paul Thomas Anderson'sPunch-Drunk Lovehas perceptively been described as a classic MGM musical without the songs. Which isn't to say it lacks for music;Jon Brion's glorious, stylistically baroque score matches Anderson's cinematic verve at every turn. Brion variously revives vintage Hawaiian pop-kitsch andConway Twittyat his earlyElvis-clone angstiest, and perfectly recasts Shelly Duvall's determined/desperate reading of "He Really Needs Me" fromHarry Nilsson's underappreciatedPopeyescore as one of his major romantic themes; codependents need love, too. But the major touchstone for Brion's instrumental underscore is the elusive Reprise Records sound of the late '60s/early '70s, with arrangements that seem lingering homages toBrian Wilson'sSmile,Van Dyke Parks'sSong Cycle, andRandy Newman'sSail Away. The composer's own self-performed pop-waltz of a melancholy love song, "Here We Go," echoes nothing less than theBeatlesin theirRubber Soul/Revolverprime; it was even recorded in their old Abbey Road studio and seems to coax musical ghosts from the very walls. It's no mean feat to be both smart and sentimental, but Brion's pulled it off handsomely here on this, the best soundtrack these ears savored in 2002.--Jerry McCulley