Rating: 3
Barry scores Chaplin in a downbeat way. It looks on Chaplin’s life as a sad one, a painful one by using an insisted-on theme that is reflective and mournful. The score’s various episodes are enjoyable. Barry has fun with little Charlie’s work house antics, his wedding march and the unveiling of early Hollywood, but the score keeps coming back to a dour mood.
It’s a subject and style that Barry normally laps up and indeed he does on a textural level (lovely, flowing orchestration) but the theme is still. It’s possible to tire of it when overplayed, though a melancholic’s dream when fresh.