 
 When your favorite film of all-time is EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, and you take constant flack from your fellow film classmates for extolling the virtues of DARKMAN, you'd probably be a lot like me and await the arrival of Sam Raimi's latest film A SIMPLE PLAN with feverish anticipation. A SIMPLE PLAN's world premiere happened to land in The Toronto Film Festival - an annual event where the few obligatory American financed studio films are littered amidst small, Canadian and foreign films. So while most focused their attention on DreamWorks' ANTZ, Meryl Streep in DANCING AT LUGHANSA and Canadian darling Don McKellar's LAST NIGHT [think ARMAGEDDON taking place in Toronto!], I fixed myself on Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda - the main cast of A SIMPLE PLAN. Not since the immortal classic DARKMAN (take shot at me here) had director Sam Raimi collaborated with composer Danny Elfman. Later they would work briefly together for ARMY OF DARKNESS (Joseph LoDuca would write the entire score, Elfman contributed "March Of The Dead" - the main theme). For Star Trek fans, remember Kirk commanding a Starship with Picard, for gore hounds imagine Freddy and Jason slaughtering in sync. Sam Raimi and Danny Elfman are quite simply two of my favorite artists - ever. Attending a showing during the film festival is never an easy task. Luckily I tracked down two tickets for A SIMPLE PLAN an hour and a half before the show and friend in tow, joined a growing line up outside the theater.  When the Paramount logo appears on screen, our ears first hear Danny Elfman's music. The music dances in the stereo effects like those in MEN IN BLACK and FLUBBER. A SIMPLE PLAN is definitely in the same stylistic mode (heavy on synth/midi effects with strings and horns) as all of Danny Elfman's recent works. There are three major elements to this score - acoustic guitar, piano solos and the ethnic flute riffs. I've been trying to come up with an overall equation for the score and it breaks down to something like this: GOOD WILL HUNTING - Celtic flavor and choir + Ethnic Flutes from NIGHTBREED + Piano Tinkling from DOLORES CLAIBORNE = A SIMPLE PLAN. While it's not easy to consciously record every nuance of the score while watching a film, I can give overall impressions. A SIMPLE PLAN [conducted by Artie Kane and orchestrated by Steve Bartek and Marc Mann] is not melody or thematically driven. In fact during the last few minutes of the film, a solo piano flirts with a thematic notion - it tinkles in a certain direction only to double back and become shattered. While this may seem disappointing, this approach of scoring is effective. This same technique is similar to what John Williams has done with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Instead of taking an obvious, thematic or melody driven accompaniment to accentuate on screen activities, Williams' and Elfman's music reflects underlying currents of the characters. With A SIMPLE PLAN, the two main characters played by Paxton (Hank Mitchell) and Thornton (Jacob Mitchell) are plagued by mistrust, paranoia and  acts
of violence they never dreamed they'd be involved in. In a scene
that is sure to disturb most viewers, Paxton commits an act of violence
that disturbs himself even more. Elfman writes for rabid strings,
shots from woodwinds and a collection of hits from ethnic flutes.
It's unsettling and as the situation boils, the music builds into a deafening
crescendo. It's the loudest, creepiest and emotional cue from Danny
Elfman since DOLORES CLAIBORNE.Until a CD release, a complete overview of the score is difficult. So much of my attention was spent on the brilliant performance of Billy Bob Thornton and the surprisingly watch able turn by Bill Paxton (whom once I believed to be the worst actor alive, who gets major roles in major movies). It's these performances that this movie relies on. Sam Raimi is completely restrained - no Sam Cams, no Blam Cams, no POV of flying bullets. Which is either a good thing for the story or a bad thing to Raimi fans expecting visual pyrotechnics. Personally I'm satisfied. It's another testament to Raimi's talent as a director that he can allow a story to drive the film not loopy camera work. It's hard to imagine a more deliriously downbeat ending for A SIMPLE PLAN. All the betrayal, lies and mayhem flow straight into a plot twist unseen in films for years. It's certainly more emotionally satisfying than the blitz of violence from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and better acted than OUT OF SIGHT - both films which are to challenge A SIMPLE PLAN for year end awards. From Toronto International Film Festival 1998 Program Book: "Sam Raimi's films (Darkman, The Quick and the Dead) have captivated audiences over the last decade and a half, and his latest, suspenseful creation is no exception. This absorbing story is a thoroughly engrossing and electrically charged tale of greed and deception. Set in small-town, rural America, A Simple Plan focuses on the relationship between two brothers who are worlds apart. Things start out simply enough, with the unearthing of a downed aircraft in a secluded, snow-covered forest. But that's not all: the small plane contains a dead body and four and a half million in cash." 
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