In New York Film Festival Centerpiece “Behemoth!,” writer/director Tony Gilroy has created a delicately calibrated film about a cellist (Pedro Pascal) in a midlife crisis. The movie played well at a packed Alice Tully Hall, and afterparty revelers were mildly upbeat.
Critics approve (see Metascore) of Pascal’s quiet, almost silent, reactive performance — he carries the movie, appearing in every scene — but the Best Actor category is so crowded that it will be tough for Pascal, who has never been nominated, to squeak past louder thespians like Matt Damon (“The Odyssey”), John Malkovich (“Wild Horse Nine”), Andrew Scott (“Elsinore”), Ryan Gosling (“Project Hail Mary”), and John Turturro (“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”). So far, Pascal has been recognized for his television work in HBO’s “The Last of Us.” “Behemoth!” marks his most ambitious lead film role to date.
The movie’s strength is its innovative music structure, as Pascal’s cellist plays different movie scores in a series of Hollywood sessions that throw his memories back in time. Gilroy deployed nine composers, including James Newton Howard, Michael Giacchino, and Alan Silvestri, whom he calls The Behemoth! Collective. Academy rules call for no more than three composers to be entered for consideration for a movie’s Original Score. But Searchlight hopes the music committee will consider accepting the one Collective in this case.
The music branch was flexible about the “K-Pop Demon Hunters” multiple songwriters, who shared their one Oscar. But the “Birdman” drumming score was disqualified as not being music. The two composers on “Arrival,” Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson, were disqualified. But later on, Richter was allowed to include both new material and old on “Hamnet.”
Searchlight will have no issues submitting the Lukas Frank song “Your God Is Sleeping.”
And “Andor” showrunner and “Michael Clayton” Original Screenplay and Directing nominee Gilroy, respected by the industry for his writing prowess, could be in the running for Original Screenplay. It defines the term.
Searchlight Pictures opens “Behemoth!” starting December 4.
