"Zhao Zilong" was a relatively obscure piece in his previous life, from the film Dragon Loaded with Glory starring Andy Lau.
As the saying went, bad movies produced divine songs. That could not have been more fitting for "Zhao Zilong"; few Chinese film scores had left such a deep impression on viewers.
In this film, you could see:
Shu soldiers wearing German WWII helmets.
Zhuge Liang screwing over his own side to the point of death.
The bizarre sight of an army marching north from Chengdu and somehow reaching Changbanpo.
And Ji-Han generals shouting, "Long live the Great Shu Kingdom!" loudly enough to make Liu Bei come back to life from sheer rage.
However, if history was completely set aside and the film was viewed as an alternate-history story,
it was still quite watchable.
Especially the scenes of Zhao Yun, played by Andy Lau, charging through Changbanpo. They were arguably the most handsome portrayal of Zhao Yun in Chinese cinema.
All of that was thanks to the film's epic score.
If Dragon Loaded with Glory was a seventy-point movie,
then "Zhao Zilong" alone was worth at least sixty-eight points.
This piece, composed by Lai Wan Man, elevated the entire film to a level it did not deserve.
One could imagine just how much credit it deserved.
Lin Tian had put considerable thought into choosing this piece.
Since it was an ensemble for three cellos,
the first choice had to be something majestic. It needed to be epic enough to bring out the overwhelming impact of a layered ensemble.
Ordinary music would not do.
That was why Lin Tian had chosen a film score.
Music like this naturally carried a powerful sense of story.
And that sense of story could also be perfectly expressed through a layered ensemble.
Besides,
since he