'Lemony' soundtrack is a fortunate event

My wife and I love "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." She is currently reading the books, and she reads passages aloud to me from time to time, and I've fallen in love with the writing style.

We've seen the "Lemony Snicket" film several times (the first we've sought out more than once since the "Lord of the Rings" films). The costumes, the sets, the acting, the props; it's got that gothic style that captures the novels' dark irony.

And then there's the music.

Composer Thomas Newman has intertwined the Halloweenish feel of the stories with exotic flair and has added more dimension to Brad Silberling's already crafty direction.

This is especially true on such tracks as "Chez Olaf," "The Reptile Room" and "Curdled Cave."

On "The Baudelaire Orphans" and "Resilience," Newman has also managed to capture the yearning and longing of happiness, which, of course, is just beyond the reach of the three main characters, Violet, Klaus and Sunny.

Those musical compositions are beautiful dark works, sprinkled with dashes of light. They remind me of a campfire that burns brightly and joyfully early in the evening but slowly turns to embers as the night grows darker. The compositions are hauntingly intriguing.

Newman, son of film composer Alfred Newman (not to be confused with Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman) and brother of David Newman, is also related to the other Newman composers, Lionel, Emil and Randy.

Thomas Newman did scores for "Desperately Seeking Susan" and "The Lost Boys" in the '80s, which led to "Scent of a Woman" and "The Shawshank Redemption" in the '90s.

More recent soundtracks Newman wrote include "American Beauty," "Erin Brockovich," "The Road to Perdition" and "Finding Nemo."

And he found the perfect sound for "Lemony Snicket."

I can't imagine the movie without his musical touch. Which is why the soundtrack album is one of the most listened to in our CD stack — next to Howard Shore's "Lord of the Rings" discs.

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com