Title - 'Everly' (Sparks & Shadows)
Artist - Bear McCreary
If you've not even heard of this film before, don't worry as you're in good company! The film, 'Everly' (which has nothing whatsoever to do with the renowned British music duo, The Everly Brothers), has kinda slipped under the radar, with heavier scrutiny focused on Oscar material and such right about now. That said, 'Everly' is still a film to take notice of.
With original music composed by Emmy Award-Winner Bear McCreary, and with additional music and featured performances by Raya Yarbrough and Brendan McCreary, 'Everly' is the cinematic story that features Salma Hayek as a woman who takes no prisoners in this action-packed thriller. Hayek ('Savages,' 'Here Comes The Boom,' etc.) is a femme fatale unleashing the ultimate vengeance against a sadistic mob boss and his army of assassins.
Primarily set in her apartment, where she must stay alive while confronting wave after wave of increasingly volatile and vicious Yakuza gangsters, director Joe Lynch turned yet again to his frequent collaborator, Bear McCreary. Indeed, McCreary's original score lives up to what MovieFone described as "a symphony of exploding heads and bullets," by using en masse of ethnic instruments, such as Bansuri, Shakuhachi, Biwa and Shamisen.
Including for the musical ride his lovely muse, Raya and his brother Brendan, and with the majority of the film's characters Japanese, including Everly's ally, Dead Man, the ethic backdrop as also enhanced by the time setting of the film: the Holidays. McCreary uses Christmas music as an important influence and draw, whilst producing and arranging both classic and original Christmas tunes for various scenes.
That aside, and with 'Everly' a distinctive nod, perhaps even love letter towards Asian cinema, McCreary does his best 'Die Hard' parody that tells the story musically, and with so much depth that if you close your eyes whilst listening to the score, you'll flinch every time a musical "fist" is exploded into a scored "face"!
www.SparksAndShadows.com
www.BearMcCreary.com