One Hour Photo - End Titles (Sy’s Theme)

This is one of my favorite pieces of soundtrack music. It doesn’t hurt that I saw this movie at a point in my life where it really resonated with me — I was very interested in the concept of memory and its fidelity to actual events, and how it fails, and how that is the way we’re forced to examine the past. (The reveal for the main character’s mania is sadly ridiculous.)

There isn’t a whole lot to this theme, yet there is. It’s the only piece I can think of which has a progression which is never allowed to resolve, and that’s why I find it unsettling. Even when it comes to the end of its long, unwinding phrase, it’s only poised to start over again. There’s a looming crescendo built into it from the beginning, and when it finally, finally hits, it’s so unsatisfying and frustrated because it just folds back into another progression that winds down again. It’s so circular and searching and miserable. All it can do is try to find its way out again.