Archive
GUNSHI KANBEE – Yugo Kanno
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The annual NHK Taiga drama is a year-long television series broadcast on Japan’s main television network, NHK, and has been a staple of Japanese television since the first one was broadcast in 1963. It is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious television events of the Japanese calendar, attracting the dream of Japan’s dramatic talent, actors, writers, directors and composers – recent previous Taiga dramas have included Clouds on the Slope scored by Joe Hisaishi, Yae No Sakura scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Ryōmaden scored by Naoki Sato. The 2014 NHK Taiga drama is Gunshi Kanbee, an epic story of a young man finding his way through the war-like and feudal Japanese society of the 16th century. Directed by Kenji Yanaka, it stars Junichi Okada in the title role, and has an original score by 37-year-old Japanese composer Yugo Kanno. Read more…
EL TIEMPO ENTRE COSTURAS/THE TIME IN BETWEEN – César Benito
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
El Tiempo Entre Costuras, “The Time Between Seams”, is an epic Spanish TV series based on the novel by María Dueñas. Broadcast on the Antena 3 network in October 2013, it stars Adriana Ugarte as Sira Quiroga, a seamstress in Madrid in the 1930s, who is forced to flee her home when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. The score for El Tiempo Entre Costuras is by Los Angeles-based Andalusian composer César Benito, and it’s absolutely sensational. There’s something captivating, emotional, entrancing about César Benito’s work here. Epic, yet intimate, sweeping, yet personal, it’s one of the best scores for television you are ever likely to here. Beginning with the rhapsodic “Tema de Sira”, written for solo piano, the score opens up into the sparkling, busy “Madrid, 1922”, which captures the life and energy of pre-war Madrid through central theme which effortlessly moves around all sections of the orchestra, and features an especially gorgeous sequence for various solo woodwinds. Read more…
ISABEL – Federico Jusid
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Isabel is an epic Spanish-language TV series broadcast on the Televisión Española network about the life of Queen Isabella I of Castille. One of the most beloved and revered figures of Spanish history, in the 1450s she was instrumental in unifying various warring kingdoms under one crown – essentially creating the modern country of Spain – and funded the voyages of Christopher Columbus, leading to the discovery of the New World and the foundation of America. The show, which has just completed its second season, stars Michelle Jenner as Isabel, co-stars Ramon Madaula, Rodolfo Sancho and Ainhoa Santamaria, and boasts an astonishing score by the young Argentine composer Federico Jusid. Read more…
CZAS HONORU/TIME OF HONOR – Bartosz Chajdecki
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most celebrated and popular Polish television series of all time, Czas Honoru (A Time of Honor) tells the story of a group of friends, their lives and loves, as they struggle to survive in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Starring Maciej Zakoscielny, Jakub Wesolowski and Jan Wieczorkowski, the show has been a smash hit in its native country since it first began airing on the TVP network in 2008; now in its sixth season, it continues to attract large domestic audiences, has made stars of its lead actors, and helped launch the career of its composer, Bartosz Chajdecki. Read more…
UNSERE MÜTTER, UNSERE VÄTER/GENERATION WAR – Fabian Römer
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter is an ambitious 3-part German mini-series broadcast on the ZDF network in March 2013. The story follows five friends in their 20s, each on different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II: two are Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front, one is a nurse, one is an aspiring singer, and one is a Jewish tailor. The narrative spans five years in Berlin in the 1940s, beginning when the friends meet up for a last time before embarking on their journeys, enthusiastically vowing to meet up again the following Christmas. The series stars Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein and Ludwig Trepte, was directed by Philipp Kadelbach, and has an original score by composer Fabian Römer. Read more…
LE VOL DES CIGOGNES/FLIGHT OF THE STORKS – Éric Neveux
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Flight of the Storks (Le Vol des Cigognes) is a French TV mini series starring Harry Treadaway as Jonathan, a young English academic ornithologist who teams up with a colleague to follow storks on their migration from Switzerland to Africa. However, when his colleague is found dead in mysterious circumstances, Jonathan finds himself caught up in an international web of intrigue, travelling through Bulgaria, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Congo along the pathway of the migrating storks, with a dogged Swiss detective hot on his heels. This mini-series was directed by Jan Kounen adapted from the novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé, co-starred Rutger Hauer and Perdita Weeks, and was scored by French composer Éric Neveux. Read more…
À VOUS DE JOUER MILORD – François de Roubaix
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
À Vous de Jouer Milord was a 1974 spy drama mini-series of six episodes directed by the famous French director Christian-Jaque. The national security storyline concerned the theft of design schematics for the new generation French tank, the AMX 30. Justifiably alarmed by the loss of the schematics, the government resolved to call back into service their retired agent Hubert de Pomarec (AKA Milord) played by Henri Piégay to regain the stolen plans. Christian-Jaque imbued the mini-series with a comic book sensibility and robust action scenes with his lead performing his own stunts. While entertaining, it received no critical acclaim. Read more…
GAME OF THRONES, SEASON 1 – Ramin Djawadi
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Game of Thrones is a sprawling fantasy drama television mini-series made by HBO, based on the popular first novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Set in a fictional ancient kingdom similar to medieval Britain, it follows the fortunes of four noble families – the solid and gritty Starks, the manipulative and cunning Lannisters, the warlike but faded House Baratheon, and the proud and mysterious House Targaryan, the last surviving members of which have been banished overseas, but who have joined forces with the vicious and nomadic Dothraki clan and are looking to return home for revenge. The show has a sprawling, labyrinthine plot of murder, betrayal, sex, violence, magic and superstition, but at its core is about the four houses and their various political machinations to gain control of the fabled Iron Throne, and with it the monarchy of the kingdom. The show stars Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, Harry Lloyd, Emilia Clarke and Jason Momoa, and received rave reviews when it premiered on US television in April 2011. Read more…
THE PACIFIC – Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli, Blake Neely
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When the TV mini-series Band of Brothers first aired in 2001 it was hailed as a great piece of television art; a thoughtful, emotional, well-produced, well-acted and well-directed look at the lives – and deaths – of the men who served in the US military in Europe during World War 2. Almost a decade later, the same group of talented individuals have come together again to make The Pacific, which tells the simultaneous story of the men and women who fought in the Pacific theater against the Japanese at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and all across the Pacific Ocean. The series stars Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda, William Sadler and James Badge Dale, and began airing on HBO in the United States on March 14, 2010.
The late, great Michael Kamen wrote one of the finest scores of his career for the original Band of Brothers series. For The Pacific, the producers turned to the composing trifecta of Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely to write almost nine hours Read more…
CIDADE DOS HOMENS/CITY OF MEN – Antônio Pinto
Original Review by Clark Douglas
A follow-up to the popular Brazilian television series of the same title, “City of Men” is a film about the troubled friendship of two young men in Rio (Douglas Silvo and Darlan Cunha). The two friends each discover secrets from their past, and attempt to deal with their violent future as gang members. Over time, a great deal of strain is put on their friendship. The film is well-liked by those who have seen it, but it seems to have pretty much slipped under the radar of just about everyone.
Music is provided by composer Antônio Pinto, who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. In fact, Pinto has spent the first decade or so of his career scoring Brazilian film and television efforts, including the “City of Men” television show Read more…
FLOOD – Debbie Wiseman
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Flood” is a British thriller that might hit a little too close to home for many American audiences. Memories of Hurricane Katrina are probably still too fresh for many audiences (particularly in the southeast part of the states) for the film to really be very exciting. It sounds a bit like your standard disaster movie… a huge tidal wave is coming, millions of lives are at stake, it’s up to one man to save everybody, etc. and so on. I don’t know whether the film is aiming at being a tragic drama or an adrenaline-pumping action flick, but from the sound of Debbie Wiseman’s score it seems to be both. Read more…
COLDITZ – Richard Harvey
Original Review by Peter Simons
A remake of the classic 1970s television series, Colditz is a gripping World War II drama about British soldier Jack Rose (Tom Hardy) who is planning his escape from Germany’s infamous Colditz prison. His attempts to make a getaway have less to do with the actual imprisonment, and more with the news that his best friend Nicholas (Damian Lewis) is having an affair with his wife Lizzie (Sophia Myles) back in London. The show premiered on the UK channel ITV1 on 27th March 2005 to much critical and popular acclaim. Read more…
EARTHSEA – Jeff Rona
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Jeff Rona has had an interesting, somewhat unique career to date. The 48-year old American was one of the first composers-in-residence of the Media Ventures organisation when it first started up in the early 1990s, and scored the biggest hit of his career replacing Maurice Jarre on Ridley Scott’s White Squall in 1996, before sort of disappearing. He has contributed “additional ambiences” to occasional Zimmer outings, and written for TV productions such as the recent “Traffic” spin-off, but for some reason has never truly built on the potential he showed in the early 1990s, or capitalised on his association with Hans Zimmer the way other early-MV composers such as Mark Mancina, Trevor Rabin, Harry Gregson-Williams or John Powell have. Read more…
TRAFFIC: THE MINISERIES – Jeff Rona
Original Review by Peter Simons
A mini series based on a film which itself was based on a mini series, Traffic shows the public a glimpse of the grim world of drug trafficking. The show, directed by Eric Bross and Stephen Hopkins, is a three-part event starring Elias Koteas, Balthazar Getty and Martin Donovan. In the first episode, Mike McKay (Koteas) is sent to Afghanistan to dismantle its drug export operation. In the second episode, Ben Edmonds (Getty) deals with illegal aliens that are being transported from China to the US in cargo containers. Finally, Adam Kadyrov (Donovan) is an illegal immigrant in the US awaiting the arrival of his wife and child. Soon he learns that the ship carrying his family has sunk. As he starts his personal investigation he discovers a grim truth. Read more…
ANGELS IN AMERICA – Thomas Newman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The quality of original television music in recent years has improved immeasurably. Long gone are the days when all a TV-movie could hope for was a rising star or ageing has-been hiring a small orchestra or, worse still, mocking it all up on synths at home. Now, with recent excellent works like Brian Tyler’s Children of Dune, Laura Karpman’s Taken and Michael Kamen’s Band of Brothers, the upper echelons of television scoring is equaling – and occasionally surpassing – that of the cinema. One of these scores which surpasses almost everything written for the cinema is Thomas Newman’s Angels in America, by far one of the best scores written for any medium in 2003. Read more…
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