My name is Terry and this is my blog. 
03/08/2007: "ZODIAC and Music"
mood: The Lights Were Off in My Office All Day as I Listened to the New Arcade Fire Album with Head Phones
Yeah, it was that kind of work day today. Worry not, the glow from my computer screens was more than sufficient.
Regardless, I saw Zodiac last night and to say the least I fucking liked it a lot. Robert Downey, Jr. is worth the price of admission alone. Yes, the movie is long, but so was Cold Mountain, so get over it.
Aside from the powerhouse performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, et al, the excellent cinematography I personally enjoyed how the film focused on the idea of the city under siege and the obsession with catching the killer. This idea is nothing new (Summer of Sam, Dirty Harry) but I lived in DC when all that sniper shit was happening a few years ago, so I could relate to living with a mandated curfew and being paranoid about everything. I avoided art stores (such as Michael's where several victims were shot) and I used to take cab rides from the metro station back to my house at night, despite the 5 minute walk. Once during a Badly Drawn Boy concert, Damon Gough decided to end his set a few songs early, just so we could "all get home safely." Nobody complained.
I won't say much else about the movie except that David Fincher is one of my favorite director's based on his use of music alone. Without spoiling anything, his decision to use Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" to bookend the film was quite brilliant as the song's dark mood mirrored the tone of the film. The song will forever creep me out in the same way Silence of the Lambs rendered Q Lazarus's "Goodbye Horses" unlistenable. At my 26th birthday party, the song came on randomly while we were all dancing and it was immediately skipped over 30 seconds in by my former roommate who exclaimed "Dude, we are not dancing to the song that played during the dick-tuck scene, man." So we went outside and beat the shit out of a whale pinata instead. O, the Maltman house memories . . . .
Back to Zodiac and Fincher and his use of music.
Most of us fondly remember his use of the Pixies' "Where is My Mind" at the end of Fight Club, but my favorite music moments were actually from his underrated film The Game. There's Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" that plays in the middle of the film and at the end over the credits.
But my favorite music moment is the scene where Michael Douglas's character steps into the Chinese Restaurant and finds a headshot of the Game's interviewer, while Teresa Tang's mandarin classic "Tian Mi Mi" is playing in the background.
This reference is lost on almost everybody, but for those who know of Teresa Tang and her legacy (me and most Chinese people), it was quite a poignant moment as it came out of nowhere. For further information check out the Hong Kong romantic "Comrades: Almost a Love Story" starring Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai, I guarantee it will not dissapoint. The music of Teresa Tang is prominently featured in the film to great emotional effect. Another Fun Trivia Fact: Brett Ratner used "Tian Mi Mi" in Rush Hour 2, on the yacht scene.
Lastly, Zodiac is the 3rd film I've seen to effectively use a Donovan song to close out a film. Steven Soderberg's The Limey has Terence Stamp singing Donovan's "Colours" in a brilliant flashback moment at the end and Gus Van Sant's To Die For (starring Nichole Kidman) ends with Season of the Witch.
If you haven't seen either of the aforementioned films, I highly recommend you do so. As for Zodiac, I highly recommend that you do not see it alone. The walk home from the theater last nite was not as easy as I thought.