Archive
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2014, Part 1
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the first of 2014, explores seven outstanding scores from recent months, including an epic Japanese historical television drama about the life of a brilliant military strategist navigating the turbulent world of 16th-century feudal Japan, a Vietnamese drama-thriller about an aging actress whose desperate attempt to restore her fading beauty leads to tragedy and a sinister cover-up, an inspirational Taiwanese sports drama telling the true story of a multicultural high school baseball team that overcame enormous odds to compete for the Japanese national championship in 1931, a Vietnamese supernatural thriller about a young heart-transplant recipient haunted by visions connected to the mysterious family of her donor, a spectacular Japanese period action film in which a former assassin is called upon to prevent a ruthless enemy from overthrowing the newly established Meiji government, a somber samurai revenge drama about a loyal warrior who spends thirteen years hunting the men responsible for his master’s death, and a beautiful Studio Ghibli animated drama about a lonely young girl whose friendship with the mysterious Marnie gradually reveals an unexpected connection to her own past.
Already in 2014 I have reviewed Christopher Young’s magnificent score for the Chinese epic fantasy adventure The Monkey King, and Jo-Yeong Wook’s score for the revisionist samurai action film Kundo: Age of the Rampant. You can read my review of The Monkey King here, my review of Kundo: Age of the Rampant here.
QUA TIM MÁU/VENGEFUL HEART – Christopher Wong, Garrett Crosby
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Vengeful Heart is a Vietnamese supernatural thriller directed by Victor Vu, starring Phuong Nha, Hoang Bach, and Thai Hoa, one of Vietnam’s most popular and successful comedians. It tells the story of Linh, a young woman who, after almost being killed in a car accident, survives after receiving a heart transplant. During her recovery Linh begins to have nightmares and hallucinations about a mysterious house in a forest. Tortured by her dreams, Linh eventually finds the house, which she finds inhabited by a very unusual Addams-esque family; worse still, it starts to become apparent that the recently deceased daughter of the family is Linh’s heart donor, and the family is becoming more and more attached to Linh. The film was massively successful in its home country, taking in more than 90 billion đồng, making it the all-time highest grossing domestic film in Vietnamese box office history. Read more…
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