Gary Sinise directs John Steinbeck's fatalistic Depression-era fable of friendship and sacrifice with a reverence for the text and a painterly eye for period 1930s detail. Sinise also co-stars alongside Sherilyn Fenn and John Malkovich, who anchors this 1992 remake as mentally challenged gentle giant Lenny. A handsome American classic, even if the overrated Malky's twitchy mannerisms irritate as much as ever.
Underwhelmed as we are by franchise McBlockbusters, this score's by the really rather talented Howard Shore, who was responsible for the coolly sexy sounds which rippled under David Cronenberg's Crash. His soppy strings for the first Baggins movie won him all manner of awards and made the UK Top 10. This one is distinguished by its remarkable guest vocalists: Iceland's Emiliana Torrini and former Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser—from "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" to Gollum and Samwise: it makes a kind of sense, no?
