Archive
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2021, Part I
Yes it’s that time of year again! The new year is already one quarter gone and, as the world of mainstream blockbuster cinema and film music continues to be impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus continues, we must again look to smaller international features not as reliant on massive theatrical releases to discover the best new soundtracks. As such I am very pleased to present the first installment (for this calendar year) in my ongoing series of articles looking at the best “under the radar” scores from around the world.
The titles included are two Spanish action thrillers, a Vietnamese romantic drama, an Italian period murder-mystery television series, a Russian fantasy-adventure sequel, and a contemporary French TV series re-telling a classic story about a gentleman thief! Read more…
Best Scores of 2016 – Spain and Portugal
The sixth installment in my annual series of articles looking at the best “under the radar” scores from around the world concentrates on music from films from Spain and Portugal. I have long been of the opinion that, pound for pound, the best film music in the world is being written on the Iberian peninsula, and this year’s nine entries more than confirm that theory yet again. Read more…
Best Scores of 2014 – Spain
My fourth article in my Review of the Year 2014 looks at the Best Scores from Spain. It’s pretty common knowledge that I consider Spain to be one of the world’s great hotbeds of excellent film scoring, and 2014 continues to affirm that this is the case. This year’s group of scores from the Iberian peninsula runs the gamut of genres, from dramas to comedies to horror scores to contemporary thrillers, and features music from some of from the best regional composers working today, including Roque Baños, Arnau Bataller, Zacarías M. de la Riva, and Federico Jusid. Read more…
LA HERENCIA VALDEMAR – Arnau Bataller
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
La Herencia Valdemar is the first film of a two-part Spanish mystery-horror-thriller series written and directed by José Luis Alemán. Steeped in Lovecraftian imagery and themes, it stars Silvia Abascal as Luisa Lorente, an expert on inheritance tax relating to old buildings, who visits an enormous Gothic mansion called Valdemar to conduct an audit following the death of the owner. When she disappears in mysterious circumstances, her boss hires a private detective named Nicolás Tremel (Oscar Jaenada) to find out what happened to her. However, upon his arrival at Valdemar, Nicolás discovers much more than he bargained for – an-age old horror beyond imagination. The film, which also stars Daniele Liotti, Laia Marull and Rodolfo Sancho, was a popular success in it’s native Spain when it opened there in January 2010, but by far the most impressive aspect of the entire production is the score by 33-year old composer Arnau Bataller. Read more…
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