With two great star performances, and a great supporting cast, the film is sleek and looks great thanks to the brilliant cinematography of Michael Chapman. One of the smartest decisions director Kaufman made was hiring the incredible Japanese composer, Toru Takemitsu. It was a bold choice and a choice that really paid off. Takemitsu composed unique scores for some classic Japanese films, including Woman in the Dunes, Kwaidan, The Face of Another, Double Suicide, and others. In 1970 he scored director Akira Kurosawa's film, Dodes'ku-den, turning in a score of great warmth and melody that made Kurosawa's beguiling film even more beguiling. His second score for Kurosawa, Ran, was a true masterpiece of film scoring, a symphonic work of tremendous power and beauty. Rising Sun would be his first and only American film scoring assignment.
Takemitsu wrote a very long score for the film, but in the end several incredible cues went unused and the music that was used was occasionally truncated and moved around. A CD release of the score did not present it in the best light, with a short running time and several pieces not by Takemitsu. The general impression was that Takemitsu's score just wasn't that interesting. We're hoping that this first-ever complete CD release will change that view because hearing the score as Takemitsu wrote it is an entirely different experience – an addictive, mesmerizing neo-noir tone poem of exquisite orchestral color and sounds (including wonderful use of the Ondes Martinot), with a great main theme that weaves itself in and out of the score like wisps of smoke. It is a major rediscovery and one that would hopefully put the music's reputation firmly where it belongs – as one of the best and most interesting scores of the 1990s. The previous CD release had only about twenty-six minutes of Takemitsu's score. This release adds over forty minutes of score cues and the score is presented as it was meant to be heard in the film.
Track listing
1. Taiko Drum Opening
Performed by Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo
2. Board Metting
3. Drive to Connor's Loft
4. Girl on the Table
5. Web Meets Connor
6. Crime Scene
7. Body Examined
8. Arrival at Apartment
9. Checking out the Apartment
10. Driving
11. Eddie Revealed on Disc
12. Looking at the Disc
13. Chase
14. Golf Course
15. So Eddie Witnessed the Murder
16. Yakuza Pursuit
17. Car in Alley
18. Security Room
19. Web's Confession
20. Eddie's Alive
21. The Hall
22. Eddie's Showdown
23. Mystery Figure Revealed
24. Senator Morton Gets Faxed
25. Interrogation
26. Nakamoto Steps
27. Cemented
28. Always Leave the Cage Door Open
29. Credits
Source Music
30. Don't Fence Me In
Cole Porter
31. Single Petal of a Rose
Duke Ellington
32. Medley (Credits - Short Version)
33. Tsunami
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