Film music labels in their majority inevitably fuse their name with certain specific aspects of the genre, mostly due to specialization purposes but also because of the varicolored nature of the latter. Some concentrate on all things Hollywood, others focus on rereleases or releases of previously unavailable material from past decades and the Golden Age, others mostly on European and Asian score CD’s, others on World music and the list is large, indeed.
MovieScore Media is a label that has primarily built their reputation on eclectic adamancy and musical class while constantly focusing on bringing mostly unknown but evidently talented young film composers, to film music lovers’ attention. My anticipation with every new MSM release is therefore always at high levels as I am virtually unaware of what’s to be heard each time, often captivated by the unexpected. Sometimes I even get caught in surprise by some of their releases; such a gem is Christopher Wong’s Journey from the Fall.
I was unaware of both the movie and the composer at first; the former is an award-winning drama that concentrates on the story of a Vietnamese family who are tragically affected by the Vietnam War and forced to immigrate to America thirteen years after the end of the war. Christopher Wong, whom I’ve never heard of before, is the composer of the musical score and a deeply prolific young one for sure.
He was a student of the film music legend Jerry Goldsmith and comes along as evidently influenced by the Maestro’s musical devices, especially in the arrangements and melodic texturing found in portions of Wong’s score for Victor Vu’s feature First Morning (winner of the Best Picture Award at the San Diego Asian American Film Festival which is also presented on this album) along with his music for the short The Anniversary, the first collaboration between him and Journey from the Fall director Ham Tran, both to be found on this CD as well. In Journey from the fall the influence is not as evident and certainly not so much in his sound, but hints are to be found indeed mostly in his technique: at first, the need for a very strong bonding element that is the theme, a theme memorable, touching and prominent enough as to gather all the single elements of the score together and tighten them up into a coherent, strong musical work. Such a theme is what thoroughly blesses Journey from the Fall, one that will greatly satisfy the nostalgic lovers of the older approaches to film music as well.
You see, most Film score composers nowadays usually tend to follow the motific approach for their themes; this means that they usually come up with a simple, easily-digested by equally forgettable 4 or 5-note motif which guides the basic routes around their scores for as long as it is demanded by the accompanying visuals of the movie, but often provides an impersonal and non-inventive melody eventually that will have no actual value or genuine importance as a further listening experience on album. Wong’s theme for Journey from the fall is nothing like that. Written primarily for solo instrument treatment, it’s fundamentally a very simple but pretty touching and fragile little melody that bears a hummable and instantly-infective song-like quality, thus coming as strongly memorable and catchy in violent contrast to the afore-mentioned motific approach of usual. Being catchy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s actually uplifting however, something which Wong’s theme couldn’t be any farer from. Given the nature of the movie’s storyline, the theme is particularly melancholic and offbeat with great dosages of nostalgia in it but simultaneously avoids unnecessary schmaltz. It is also characterized by the Goldsmith tendency to build a lot of his scores on solo instrument orientations that are prominent and well-worked throughout, something Wong’s fond of as well.
Presented on album in various occasions, it starts right from the beginning with the opening “Legend of Le Loi” performed by a beautiful violin with a distinct Vietnamese flavor due to the dense usage of the Dan Tranh, the traditional Vietnamese zither that accompanies it. Arpeggiated chords on the piano are the harmonic basis for all the appearances of this theme which is later passed through acoustic guitar, clarinet and other woodwinds as well as the full orchestra (string-based though) and driven through immensely touching and major-minor chord shifts that provide direct musical-dramatic effects. Every rendition continues to impress each time through its different nature and sound when passed through the various solo instruments. For instance, in “Drifting in the Rain” echoes serenity and calmness through the piano and gentle strings whilst loneliness and sweet melancholy are enliven through “The Promise”’s solo acoustic guitar and its clean, metered and kindly beautiful playing, one of the score’s most sentimental and touching moments. The likewise colored “life in the camp” or the uplifting rendition of “Mai's Decision” where the very main theme’s carried on the piano and escorted by acoustic guitar and elegiac strings on a lighter tone a la Thomas Newman’s American Beauty are further examples of Wong’s compositional diversity. An equally positive and vivifying tone’s also transmitted through “A New Beginning” under full orchestra with woodwinds and acoustic guitar performing the said theme, altogether showcasing the composer’s strong ability to ably handle solo instruments but also effectively manipulate his strong themes through various contrasting timbres and musical feelings overall. Servicing as the primal element for everything, the main theme gives birth to a number of resulting secondary motifs of equal beauty which are used throughout the score too and are also based on the arrpegiated-chord harmony, notably through the gently elegant piano melody of “Family Photos” or the clarinet and acoustic guitar variations of “finding letters”.
In addition, a special mention should be made on the use of the Vietnamese Zither which colors a rather exotic ethnicity to the whole score. There’s this evidently Asian-treated melody Wong wrote for the score and – although significantly brief and somewhat draft and under-developed in comparison to the main theme – still sounds as an important breath of different air to the score as it appears through the opening track, “Packing up”, “The Long Voyage” and “Take the Family”. Following the ethnic nods further we find a very impressive “The Escape”, i.e. the score’s only action piece where several tension-building and agonizing strings lead us up to a tight, firm and rhythmic Taiko outburst interweaved with minimalistic piano and repeated same note on guitar, the latter rather impressively reminiscent of the harp’s usage in Michael Giacchino’s Lost.
At the end of the album we find the most outstanding and extended piece of the score which bears the same title as the movie and which is essentially a summarization and further development of all the single elements heard before and functions as a perfectly-built, coherent and sweeping suite of flourishing performances and beautiful melodies.
Journey from the fall is small-scale and intimate but immensely passionate, touching and sentimental; a sensitive musical work of rare honesty and true inner melody as well as hard to find musical-aesthetic values. It’s not complex and it won’t blow you away with its grandness or loud, awe-aiming tricks but it certainly is one soulful testimony of infrequent musical beauty.
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