Things We Lost in the Fire - Gustavo Santaolalla

Gustavo Santaolalla and Johan Soderqvist's score for director Susanne Bier's film Things We Lost in the Fire is an appropriate accompaniment to the low-key drama. The Danish Bier, an adherent of the European "Dogma" brand of filmmaking -- naturalistic acting, natural lighting, handheld camera, etc. -- brought much of this approach to an American "Hollywood" film with big movie stars (Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny) in telling her story about a recently widowed woman and her platonic but nevertheless involved relationship with a drug addict who was a friend of her husband. Santaolalla and Sodverqvist provide a large number of short cues (30 in 37 minutes on the soundtrack album) dominated by delicately played acoustic guitars, with occasional orchestral or electronic backgrounds. It's a quiet, careful, somber style in keeping with the subject and style of the film. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide