For some bizarre reason, I think God really wanted me to watch Tony Gilroy’s new movie, “Behemoth!”
Let me back up.
As editor-in-chief of The Point, this newspaper is primarily where all of my extracurricular focus lies. But on the side, I’m also an entertainment writer. So on a whim, I sent out an email to the Newport Beach Film festival to see if I might be able to snag a couple of tickets for an early screening of “Behemoth!” starring Pedro Pascal. The screening was quickly coming up, but to my surprise, they wrote back immediately, granting not only tickets but also red carpet access. So somehow, on a random Thursday night during fall break, I found myself chatting with Jade Healy, the film’s production designer, and standing a mere few feet from Gilroy, the film’s director.
As lovely and coincidental as that moment was, that random Thursday was also the day my world felt like it had been turned upside down.
A mere hour before the red carpet, I learned that a family member had passed away. The news was devastating, and despite the estranged relationship I had with this person, I was left questioning if I should even still attend this movie. So many thoughts raced through my mind: “Should I jump on a plane and go home right now? Should I change all my plans? What do I do in a situation like this?”
But a voice in my mind told me to go. It was not a voice telling me to just push through or ignore what happened. Rather, it was a defiant hope that led me to Newport.
Somehow I made it through the interviews on the red carpet and let myself be overcome by the magic of a dimly lit, sold-out theatre. I had no idea what to expect going into this film, after watching a trailer that gives away next to nothing about the plot. Yet what I watched exceeded whatever expectations I had pieced together.
The film has been advertised as “a groundbreaking symphonic journey,” following a cellist named Alex Serian (portrayed by Pascal) who returns to Los Angeles after spending 20 years on the road as a musician-for-hire. Amid his success as a cellist, his life is riddled with complicated relationships and deep grief.
Alex grapples with the loss of his short-term girlfriend Nadia (portrayed by Eva Victor) after she unexpectedly passes away several years after their initial fling. During the funeral, Alex meets Viviana Glenn, the daughter of Nadia and a young pianist prodigy. The song she plays during the funeral enthralls Alex, leading him to keep up with her blossoming career. Even as his own life has ebbed and flowed through trials, here he sees this young girl who has everything it takes to succeed just as he had. He makes it his ambition to support her, attending her concerts and listening to her music. It’s this bright light that keeps him going in a life that constantly feels like it’s changing.
“In ‘Behemoth!’ I play a cellist. It’s an incredible love letter to music and — in my own interpretation — to how, if you’re listening, your own life experience is its own piece of music,” Pascal said in an interview with Fantastic Man. “It’s the highs, the lows, the flourishes — the moment of paralysis and development of forwards and backwards and the ‘Where is this going?’ and ‘How is this going to end?’ experience of music that is life.”
Here I was, watching this film experiencing my own highs and lows. I was experiencing the symphony of life that Alex was — the one Pascal described in his Fantastic Man interview. And perhaps that’s the reason why I had to go to this screening in the first place — to remind myself that even the worst moments of life are part of a symphony that is still being conducted. There are flourishes — bright lights like Alex saw in Viviana. There are also moments that feel like we are moving backward — moments where nothing makes sense. Both are needed.
Here, in this dark movie theatre, I became enthralled by the symphony of life playing all around me, even as things in my own world felt confusing.
So, yes, I’m pretty sure God wanted me to watch “Behemoth!”
“Behemoth!” will be released to theaters on Dec. 4 by Searchlight Pictures, and it’s absolutely worth the watch.
Abby Pickett 
Kailyn Collette