The Symphony of the Self: Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! is a Masterclass in Cinematic Dissonance

Main Facts: A Return to Form

After a fourteen-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Tony Gilroy—the architect behind the searing political stakes of Michael Clayton and the uncompromising grit of the Andor series—has returned with Behemoth!. Premiering to significant buzz at the 2026 New York Film Festival, the film arrives in theaters on December 4 via Searchlight Pictures.

At its core, Behemoth! is a character study of Alex Sarian (Pedro Pascal), a virtuoso cellist struggling to reconcile a lifetime of professional detachment with a haunting, unresolved personal history. Sarian, a man whose life has been defined by his ability to play perfectly for others while remaining emotionally mute, finds himself caught in the machinery of the Los Angeles film industry. Tasked with providing session music for a slate of blockbuster films, Sarian discovers that the very medium he abandoned—film scoring—has become a prism through which his fractured memories are being refracted.

With a sprawling creative pedigree that includes original contributions from nine of the industry’s most revered composers—including Alan Silvestri, Michael Giacchino, and James Newton Howard—Behemoth! positions itself as a love letter to the power of the film score. Yet, as the title suggests, the film is a deceptive, slippery creature, favoring the quiet "notes between the notes" over the thunderous bombast one might expect from such a collaboration.

Chronology: The Anatomy of a Memory

Gilroy constructs Behemoth! not as a linear biopic, but as a series of sonic "wormholes" that pull the protagonist through the timeline of his own life. Each professional assignment Sarian undertakes serves as a trigger for a specific era of his past.

• The Chicago Gala (2006): While recording the frantic, percussive score for a generic action-comedy titled Spies Don’t Run, Sarian is transported to a wintry night in Chicago. He recalls a desperate, clandestine attempt to flee a symphony gala to avoid an encounter with his lover (Olivia Wilde), the wife of a powerful donor.
• The Dallas Stint (2016): The melancholic waltz required for the romantic drama Seasons of Glass pulls Sarian into the humid, hazy memories of a Dallas affair with a brilliant, volatile violinist (Eva Victor). This period was defined by his inability to commit to a woman already entangled with an L.A. billionaire (Matthew Lillard), a pattern of behavior that underscores his deep-seated avoidance issues.
• The Paternity Infiltration (The Recent Past): Perhaps the film’s most virtuosic sequence involves Sarian scoring a high-stakes blockbuster also titled Behemoth!. The music is intercut with his memory of a bizarre, comic-thriller-esque break-in at a mansion, where he attempted to secure a toothbrush for a DNA paternity test. Gilroy manages to turn a mundane act of desperation into an adrenaline-fueled Mission: Impossible-style setpiece, purely through the manipulation of orchestral rhythm.

Supporting Data: The Craft of the Score

The decision to utilize nine different composers for the film’s diegetic soundtrack is not merely a gimmick; it is a vital narrative device. In Behemoth!, music is "inextricably bound to certain images from the moment they’re brought into the world, like a person to the family they never asked to have."

By having Sarian perform these various scores, the film forces the audience to experience the "strange alchemy" of movie music. The verisimilitude of "The Behemoth! Collective"—the fictionalized musical production team—is technically impeccable. Each "fake" score reflects the genuine DNA of the composers involved, yet they never feel like parodies. Instead, they serve as the backdrop for Sarian’s internal monologue.

Pedro Pascal’s performance is central to this synthesis. Having reportedly undergone intensive training to master the cello, Pascal avoids the traps of the "tortured artist" archetype. His Sarian is "real and recessive," a man who views his talent as a family heirloom—a heavy, inherited burden rather than a gift. His interactions with a Billie Eilish-coded music prodigy (Alexa Swinton) reveal the generational divide in how music is valued: for the youth, it is an expression of self; for Sarian, it is a tool for survival and, occasionally, a means of concealment.

Official Responses and Critical Reception

Early reception following the NYFF premiere has been overwhelmingly positive, with critics highlighting Gilroy’s maturation as a director. While Michael Clayton was defined by its relentless forward momentum and Duplicity by its labyrinthine plotting, Behemoth! represents a more introspective, almost Proustian turn for the filmmaker.

Critics have noted that the film is "light on psychological details" and occasionally "wishy-washy" regarding the cause-and-effect of its narrative beats. However, these are viewed as deliberate stylistic choices rather than failures. By refusing to connect the dots between Sarian’s senile mother (JoBeth Williams), his flameout brother (Will Arnett), and his various romantic trysts, Gilroy forces the viewer to share in Sarian’s confusion.

The film’s "dolcissimo stunner of an ending" has been singled out as the emotional anchor of the work. It is here that the music finally ceases to be a background element and becomes an expression of Sarian’s own voice, finally "synced up" with his life.

Implications: The Legacy of the "Big" Film

Behemoth! challenges the audience to consider the "uncertain process of reconciling how [one] sees himself with the music that he hears in his head." In the context of a 2026 Hollywood that is increasingly job-starved and creatively exhausted, the film serves as a meta-commentary on the value of the artist.

The film suggests that the obsession with "lasting" is a fool’s errand. As the film argues through its structure, "Something doesn’t have to last in order to stay with you forever." For Sarian, the challenge is not to find a lasting legacy, but to find his own tempo in a city that constantly demands he play to someone else’s.

Ultimately, Gilroy’s latest feature proves that he remains one of our most vital storytellers. While it may not offer the easy catharsis of a standard Hollywood drama, its "misshapen jewel" of a narrative provides something more enduring: a reminder that our lives are not defined by the scripts written for us, but by the moments we choose to take control of the rhythm.

Grade: B+

Searchlight Pictures will release "Behemoth!" in theaters nationwide on Friday, December 4, 2026.