"It's hard to discern a unifying theme in the best film scores of 2025. This year's cinema certainly favored the bold and audaciously musical, in the literal sense - from the devilish fantasia of "Sinners," composed by Ludwig Göransson, to the heavenly devotion of "The Testament of Ann Lee," with score and songs by Daniel Blumberg. Jonny Greenwood returned, roaring, with his music for swarming strings and neurotic piano in "One Battle After Another.""
"Also swarming: Jerskin Fendrix's bee-inspired soundtrack for "Bugonia." Boldest yet, perhaps, was "Tron: Ares" - as a neon thrill ride that doubled as a music video for one of the most kick-ass, '80s-coded Nine Inch Nails soundtracks. But gentle, impressionistic scores also cut through the blaring fog. Among the standouts were Nala Sinephro's music for "The Smashing Machine" - a jazzy watercolor painting that revealed the soft interior of a hulking mixed martial arts fighter - and Bryce Dessner's dreamy landscape for "Train Dreams.""
Film scores in 2025 displayed polarized but complementary approaches: audacious, high-energy soundtracks and restrained, impressionistic palettes. Notable aggressive works included Ludwig Göransson's devilish fantasia for Sinners, Jonny Greenwood's swarming strings and neurotic piano in One Battle After Another, Jerskin Fendrix's bee-inspired Bugonia score, and a Nine Inch Nails-infused Tron: Ares. Counterpoint came from Nala Sinephro's jazzy, watercolor music for The Smashing Machine and Bryce Dessner's dreamy, minimal landscape for Train Dreams. Bryce Dessner collaborated with directors Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar for a fourth time, composing a tone poem of cascading piano, string quartet and sighing clarinet to evoke time, place and interior lives.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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