BEHEMOTH!

What’s better than one composer for a film? How about nine? Intended as a love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it, an all-star “composer cast” comprising James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Brandon Roberts, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, Henry Jackman, and Nami Melumad each contribute to this unique film directed and produced by Tony Gilroy (of the well-received Star Wars spinoff, Andor). While details are yet to be divulged, one would hope that each composer will leave their own signature mark through distinctive themes and arrangements.

Ambitiously titled BEHEMOTH! (sic), the film follows the life of a cellist, Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal), who returns to Los Angeles after twenty years on the road. As a two-minute teaser, it’s conceptually simple but unique in structure. We start with a slightly out of tune piano as the protagonist looks to be gearing up for session work in an orchestra. Closeups with strong foley of Serian putting the cello away is followed by diegetic footage of a fairly nondescript, classical oriented cello phrase. It becomes clear he’s warming up or practicing as the same phrase is played, shifted up a semitone each repetition. When it returns to the original key, it then meanders a bit as we see and hear a montage of disparate moments in Serian’s life; it’s unclear whether there’s any kind of connection or sequence to these moments. He approaches a man’s house—clearly someone who knows him, but it’s been a while, as he exasperatedly asks “what are you doing here?”

Cue the title card for the director, synched to cello notes (naturally, an instrument that remains a through line for the trailer). Now we get low brass entering as we see Serian enter into stormy winter weather. Notice the diegetic synch of the harp glissando with Serian’s hand casually grazing a harp as he walks by, one of the intermittent touches that keep the music anchored in the world of the film. Now we’re back to the session from earlier, but it slowly becomes clear as this orchestral bit plays that we’re getting something unique for the title card of the film. Instead of a one-and-done card per se, we get a slow pan out of a translucent, literal behemoth of a logo, as the “O” serves as a picture-in-picture element—we see romantic moments, desolation, a hug in a parking lot, the orchestral session, and more, suggesting and giving respect to a wholistic idea of the life of a musician.

As the pan out continues, a wordless choir comes to dominate the soundtrack, lending an especially epic sensibility. Somehow, despite picture-in-picture being an inherently tacky element, it comes off as earnest and even charming here—taking the edge off the seriousness of the scenes and music around it.

While we have had (and continue to have) many musical biopics lately, this appears to be the first that serves as a general celebration of the music of soundtracks. With plot details scarce, one wonders just how deep the references, Easter eggs, and nods to the history of sound in cinema will go.

BEHEMOTH! hits theatres December 4th, and it set to feature at the New York Film Festival on October 2nd.

— Curtis Perry