James Newton Howard, Freedomland

Tracks & Durations

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Review

In this soundtrack to the thriller starring Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson, James Newton Howard takes a departure from his usual neo-traditional scores. Oh sure, there are atmospheric pianos and lush orchestrations here ("Brenda's Apartment," "Inside Freedomland"), but Howard also ventures out a bit closer to the edge (which still isn't that far-out, but should make his fans jerk to attention). "Main Title," for instance, deploys harsh guitar riffing against discreet synth whooshes reminiscent of the 1980s soundtracks of Giorgio Moroder (a feeling that also creeps up on "Burning"). "Unrest" features striking electronics ricocheting around and creating a percussive, bumping wall that can sound like a game of Pong on steroid. And sometimes, those electronics and the melancholy atmospherics meet on the same track, as in "Did They Arrest Anyone?" and "You're in the Wrong Park," and the result is intriguing enough to let one wish Howard would drop the big orchestras more often. --Elisabeth VincentelliThe exciting and hauntingly beautiful score for Freedomland was composed by James Newton Howard (King Kong, Batman Begins, The Sixth Sense).

About the Movie:
Late one night in a working class New Jersey suburb, a bloodied woman staggers mute and dazed into the emergency room at the Dempsy Medical Center. After treatment for shock and hysteria, Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) recounts to Dempsy police detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) a horrific tale of being carjacked on the isolated strip of undeveloped land that divides Dempsy's urban housing projects from the blue collar town of Gannon, where she lives. She claims she was forced out of her car by a black man, but during the interrogation, Council senses he's not getting the whole story. Only after hours of questioning does Brenda finally break down and confess that her four-year-old son, Cody, was asleep in the back seat of the stolen car.

Led by activist Karen Collucci (Edie Falco), members of the communities of Dempsy and Gannon unite in a search for the missing child, but the criminal investigation into the alleged kidnapping by a suspect who is presumed to be a local from the projects soon ignites long-simmering racial tensions between the two towns. Based on the best-selling novel by Richard Price.

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