It has been 14 years since Tony Gilroy last directed a feature film, 2012’s The Bourne Legacy. Before that was Duplicity and in 2007 his sensational Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton. He has been busy though, notably the critically acclaimed TV series Andor, but it is good to see his rare sophisticated storytelling back on the big screen with the compelling journey of a lifelong cellist whose nomad-like life reaches a crescendo and turning point after years of following the music professionally and personally.

Behemoth!, which had its world premiere today at the New York Film Festival, is the rare movie set in the world of Hollywood music soundstages and it undoubtedly is a love letter to this crucial, usually final, aspect of the production process. But its central focus is on the family and romantic ties of one musician, Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal), who was born to be in an orchestra — in fact he couldn’t escape it — and that has taken its toll on this man for whom music is the one and only steady beat in his life, if not his heart.

Alex’s grandfather was a session musician for movies who died playing on one in 1959; his absent father, Peter (Hank Azaria), also was a composer for cartoons and television, if not a creatively satisfied one; his mother Ginnie (Jo Beth Williams) was a successful musician herself; as was his brother Andy (Will Arnett), who had a taste of fame in a ’90s rock band. In many ways the devotion to their professional life all took a toll on this family, and in Alex’s case turned him inward — a traveling cello player drifting from city to city, and relationship to relationship, being on the road the only real life he knew, his true potential never completely met.

Now after 20 years he is returning to Los Angeles, getting day work on a number of movie-scoring sessions but also dealing with family issues including the failing health of his mother, his brother’s quirkiness, and perhaps the biggest lingering question he has still in his life via an encounter with a 15- year-old prodigy, Viviana Glenn (Alexa Swinton), who not only has a huge following on the pop circuit (think Billie Eilish) but who also has now been called in to replace the composer on the movie Behemoth! (a code name for the secret film the are working on).

All of this is played out in non-linear fashion as we meet Alex on a session for a movie, but as he plays the notes, Gilroy’s script goes to flashbacks of his earlier life, back and forth between present day and various years, jobs, and romantic liaisons. First we get a look at his past romantic entanglements as one woman yells at him complaining about another she discovers he slept with. That one is a funny bit with a determined Carol Spedding (Olivia Wilde), with whom he had a fling in Chicago, but is now taking things overboard insisting he made a huge mistake breaking it off. This woman is just one boiling bunny removed from a restraining order and Wilde amusingly plays it for all its worth. In another flashback in Dallas we meet fellow musician Nadia Hynes (Eva Victor) who is involved sexually with the emotionally reserved Alex, while at the same time committed to another very wealthy man, Dennis Glenn (Matthew Lillard). Cutting to six years later she has tragically died and Alex finds himself invited to her funeral, where her very young daughter Viviana demonstrates her unique talents with a piano composition. Alex begins to get a nagging feeling this girl could actually be his daughter from that long ago relationship. Her musical abilities is just one clue. While at the funeral he runs into an old flame and close friend of Nadia (Margarita Levieva, leading both again to the bedroom. It won’t be the last time he visits this mansion as his quest for the truth leads him back in a totally different guise.

Gilroy skillfully weaves all these vignettes in and out, each with its own particular musical theme as again it is music always leading the way through the maze of Alex Serian’s life. To do this no single composer was hired to create the all-important score, but rather nine well-known maestros with distinct talents including Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts, and Alan Silvestri who together make up The Behemoth! Collective, and serve up a musical score that to my ears is, hands down, the year’s best. The memorable original song written for the fictional Viviana, “Your God Is Sleeping” could be a major hit. Combined with magnificent sound design, Behemoth! is a feast for the ears. 303 AFM musicians in Los Angeles were used in the musical sequences. And for all the talk of L.A.’s sad production decline as a shooting location, Gilroy has delivered a winning antidote for that as the City Of Angels has never looked so good.

Pascal, utterly convincing as this accomplished musician, subtly plays Alex in a low-key style with no showboating or anything that rings false in a portrayal where he simply becomes this wandering soul in search of himself after years of denial. The supporting players (Carmen Cuba was casting director) could not be better. Victor (Sorry, Baby) is quite good as Nadia, nailing the complicated feelings of someone married to her music like Alex, but confused in love. Kaya Ralls is a complete delight as Bronte, the young fellow musician Alex mentors; Jo Beth Williams is equally impressive as the mother in two poignant scenes ten years apart; Hank Azaria as Alex’s dad, Peter is terrific, seen via a brutally honest video letter Alex discovers 25 years after it was recorded; Wilde and Arnett are in for lighter moments that offer a nice balance to the heavier moments. Erik Griffin also has some good moments as the orchestra manager.

In the end though Behemoth! is not just a revealing character study of a man ultimately looking for his true place in the world, but also a gorgeous and glorious tribute to those who make the music that help make movies like this one so much richer.

Producers are Tony Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg, John Gilroy (who also did the complex editing for the film).

Title: Behemoth!
Festival: New York Film Festival
Distributor: Searchlight
Release date: December 4, 2026
Director-screenwriter: Tony Gilroy
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Hank Azaria, Will Arnett, Matthew Lillard
Running time: 2 hr 7 mins