Composer Iwashiro Taro - Red Cliff, Blood & Bones

I just watched part one (2008) of the great Hong Kong and Hollywood filmmaker John Woo's (吳宇森; Wú Yǔsēn) two-part epic, Red Cliff (赤壁; Chìbì), on a HDTV on Blu-ray DVD. The two parts -- part two to be released this month (January 2009) -- are, reportedly, collectively, the most expensive-ever Asian-financed motion pictures. The story encompasses the epic "Battle of Red Cliff and events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China". Red Cliff is well acted by such Asian cinema luminaries as Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (梁朝偉; Liáng Cháowěi), Kaneshiro Takeshi (金城 武; Jīnchéng Wǔ), Zhang Fengyi (张丰毅; of Farewell My Concubine [霸王別姬; Bàwáng Bié Jī] and The Emperor and the Assassin [荊柯刺秦王; Jīng Kē cì Qín Wáng] fame), Chang Chen (張震; Zhāng Zhèn of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [臥虎藏龍; Wòhǔ Cánglóng]), the, IMHO, always wonderful -- and kind of "MIA" for a while -- Zhao Wei (趙薇; Vicky Zhao Wei) and other important stars.

 The film is gorgeous to look at, with battle scenes handled in the brilliant John Woo manner--slow motion, choreographed action and painstaking attention to other detail. With gorgeous cinematography and art direction, it looks spectacular in HD. One caution: As a motion picture experience, Red Cliff is, in my mind, a just tad lugubrious. You have to know your Chinese history pretty well to follow it without re-reviewing a couple of chapters. When I restarted the film in a few places, I found that I did enjoy it more, but this added review made the overall experience of watching Red Cliff longer than its already 140 minute duration.

What I especially enjoyed was Red Cliff's music. The composer is Iwashiro Tarô (岩代 太郎). When I heard the intro music that plays as the Blu-ray disc menu starts -- before I knew who the composer was -- I immediately found it evocative of the music of one of my favorite film composers, Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲; Hisaishi Jō), or even of Anime-specialist Hattori Takayuki's (服部 隆之) score for the 1994 Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (ゴジラVSスペースゴジラ;, Gojira tai SupēsuGojira). I then learned that Red Cliff's soundtrack was composed by Iwashiro. I very much enjoy the inclusion of a "fantasy" quality in this epic score, unmistakably written by a Japanese composer.


My first exposure to Iwashiro was his score to the great Japanese film (based on an important Japanese-Korean true-life, biographical novel), Blood and Bones (血と骨; Chi to Hone), starring one of my true cinema heroes, Kitano Takeshi (北野 武). The soundtrack to Blood and Bones -- the story of a Korean immigrant to Japan who became, during the WWII period, one of the most influential members of the Korean community in Osaka (the leader of a fishing village), but who was a loathsome, violent human being that abused and alienated his family -- is one of the finest I've heard in modern motion pictures. I don't state this lightly--Iwashiro's plaintive, even haunting, music for that film could, as I see it, easily be performed on stages throughout the globe as a major classical concert work. If you have a chance to purchase the soundtrack CD (I got my hands on it immediately after seeing the film), don't miss it! Also be sure to hear other Iwashiro scores--to fine and very popular Japanese films such as Azumi (あずみ), the live-action version of Shinobi (忍), and others.

All in all, my HD experience with Red Cliff was a good one. I recommend part one of this epic for those with the fortitude to ferret through the historical references (or with extensive knowledge of them) and I am eager to see part two.

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