Mike Slott: Live Soundtrack to The Return

It's hardly rare for a musician to provide live accompaniment to a feature film, but New York-based producer Mike Slott has taken a real risk in composing a soundtrack to 2003's Russian award winner The Return. Made 76 years after the death of silent cinema, it's fairly dialogue-heavy and already boasts a score courtesy of Andrey Dergatchev, a man whose work is so suited to director Andrey Zvyagintsev's vision that they would collaborate again on 2007's The Banishment.

The Return's original soundtrack is unobtrusive and chilling, its sense of gentle foreboding driving the picture towards its tragically inevitable climax. By contrast, Slott's composition seems like score-by-numbers. Underwater sequences elicit electronic new-age ambience, while tensions between characters are highlighted by abrupt, thudding bass. When at his least heavy-handed, Slott simply calls Dergatchev's score to mind.

There are occasional moments when we witness a near perfect marriage between music and cinematography, particularly during scenes depicting the innocence of childhood. These instances, however, have no accumulative effect and amount to little more than an incoherent series of classy music videos. Though obviously a talented fellow, Slott has failed to see the bigger picture on this occasion. [Lewis Porteous]