City By the Sea
It's said that the sins of the father are visited upon the son, a theme that permeates this based-on-a-true-story cop film with a generational twist. Given the film's troubling emotional core and urban landscape, composer John Murphy scores it with remarkably eclectic panache. Starting with a somber, string-driven theme that subtly evokes the story's undercurrents of Greek tragedy, Murphy quickly draws upon everything from ska rhythms, Chopin piano pieces, house music, and even East Asian flourishes to bring its various emotional and cultural conflicts into focus. It's a score whose range and dynamic sense alone are impressive, but also one that never forgets where its heart lies. Murphy occasionally lapses into predictable action cues, but it's his evocative side excursions into the pop vernacular that balance the autumnal orchestral themes and impart the entire score with compelling new dimensions. It's a great example of how music can be more than merely the sum of its parts.--Jerry McCulley