The I Care A Lot Soundtrack Goes Hard — Like Really Hard

Electronic, emotive, eviscerating. Three words that describe the soundtrack for I Care A Lot — and the film, too. The Netflix thriller is a bitter and brutal satire about greed that gives Wall Street a run for its money. Rosamund Pike's character Marla, a shady court-appointed legal guardian, even gives her own Gordon Gekko-esque speech to kick off the film. In her case, it's not about greed, but predators and prey, lions and lambs. ("I'm a fucking lioness," Marla retorts.)

The score by Marc Canham goes as hard as Marla does when she's scamming her elderly wards. “The score’s initial playful shiny swagger mirrors the American Dream," Canham said in a press release. "Juxtaposing the reality of horrible people doing horrible things on screen" by morphing "its off-kilter arpeggio-laden sardonic playfulness, into an atmospheric darker textural assault." Well, at least they're doing all this horrible stuff to some really cool tunes, right?

The songs in I Care A Lot range from electronic dirges to Icelandic lullabies to pop songs whose titles offer a sarcastic touch. Choosing Five Star's 1985 pop song "System Addict" feels pointed; like a knife through the heart of our greedy protagonist. The movie escalates to something dark and poetic, as does its soundtrack. To hear what that sounds like, keep reading.