A One Mann’s Movies review of “Behemoth!”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4*, NR).
Tony Gilroy is best known for being a top writer for works like the Jason Bourne films, Rogue One and the Andor TV series, but has also directed 2007’s Michael Clayton (with ‘my friend’ George), 2009’s Duplicity, 2012’s The Bourne Legacy (with Jeremy Renner) and now – 14 years later – Behemoth!: something completely different.
As a movie it is a bold swing, full of complex fractured timelines and brimming with style. And for me, the swing more connected than didn’t.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
“Red ball, green ball, round ball” – are you paying attention? Cello prodigy Alex (Pedro Pascal) has spent his adult life changing orchestra chairs and lovers’ beds at regular intervals. On the run from his latest fling, he retreats to LA as a session player and into the suspended reality of a film score studio.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: R. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on language and sexual references. )
Talent:
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Thomas Kretschmann, Zlatko Buric, Matthew Lillard, Stephanie Sigman, Hank Azaria, Will Arnett.
Directed by: Tony Gilroy.
Written by: Tony Gilroy.
Running Time: 2h 7m.
Review:
Positives:
- Whilst we’ve had many films about musicians (recent big ones include Tár and Maestro) I can’t remember any that have set their action around musicians scoring movies. This is where we start this film, in an LA scoring studio, with Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal) as a famous cello virtuoso. He is welcomed into the fold by most of the players (who really think he’s too good for them) but not by others: the partner of the cellist he has replaced is less than happy. Cue some great film soundtrack music as the orchestra add the score to a spy thriller called “Spies Don’t Run”. The film boasts a host of composers, many of them famous names in the industry, including Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard and Alan Silvestri.
- But then – whoosh – we are in a Chicago Philharmonic concert with Alex dodging a furious Carol Spedding (Olivia Wilde) who accuses him of “fucking Nadia” (Eva Victor). Nadia, a talented violinist with the orchestra, is betrothed to a millionaire funder of the orchestra: as Milos (Zlatko Buric) reminds him “shagging the $6m wife” is not a great idea. We quickly realise that Alex is a magnet for women and that he has slept with just about anyone and everyone of the female persuasion. Then – whoosh – we are in Dallas watching the romance. And so it goes. We bounce around the US reflecting different aspects of Alex’s life in a non-sequential order. Sometimes we end up in a city from the slightest reference in a bit of dialogue before, so the film demands your complete attention to keep up. Then – wallop – you get another piece of information that makes you suddenly go “OHHHHH – I SEE” as some pieces of the jigsaw join up!
- The script also has a way of hitting you in the solar-plexes from time to time, when you realise that something has happened drastic has happened. For example, we see Alex’s mother Ginnie (Poltergeist‘s JoBeth Williams) as a fit and well expert harp player, but also as a dementia sufferer going rapidly downhill. “It’s me, Alex” says Alex. “So you say” replies Ginnie. We also flash-bask to Alex’s Dad, Peter (Hank Azaria), who was himself a TV soundtrack scorer, who was less than a perfect role-model. Making up the dysfunctional family is the brother Andy (Will Arnett) who is a bit of a wastrel and good at spending the family fortune.
- The film looks rich and glossy (the DP is Damián García who did Andor). Some of the shots are breathtaking: one seeing Alex driving through a graffitied tunnel, reflected in the windscreen, is magnificent.
- Acting wise:
- Pedro Pascal is terrific in the lead role: a scene where he is watching a virtuoso young girl playing a mournful piece on a piano would be his “Oscar reel moment”. And in terms of ‘faking it’ playing the cello, he is brilliant: how many hours of practice must he have put in for this performance? (Maybe this is why we haven’t seen so much of him this year after last year’s glut?!) An Oscar nomination – his first – is a real possibility, although this year feels like a massively crowded field.
- But stealing all of the scenes she is in – yet again – is the wonderful Olivia Wilde. playing the manic
Carol Spedding, trying to constantly force herself into the sex and love life of Alex, who wants nothing less. - Also impressive in a smaller role was Kaya Ralls as Bronte, a young girl looking for advice from Alex about an orchestra audition and getting it (but not, for once, with any sexual strings attached). Not that Carol doesn’t see something there: “not to be toxically generational, but why is she on your list – she’s 15”.
Negatives:
- The film relies on you believing that Pedro Pascal is so utterly gorgeous that no woman he asks will ever refuse to have sex with him. I can’t personally see that. But then I am the wrong sex to comment.
- The film is complex to follow and some viewers might just say “nope”. It also made me wonder if I was a bit stupid. I wondered, for example, whether I should have twigged a key revelation in the film long before the fact was shoved down my throat.
Monkeys
Stay for the end-titles for the playing of a song called “Make Mine Salty”… which relates to something said in the film. It’s very amusing.
Summary Thoughts:
A rich, complex movie that looks superb and which I really look forward to seeing again. Rather like The Sixth Sense, its a film that I could watch again to better appreciate the way the jigsaw pieces fit together.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrMGdrCJ5Ck.
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