“we have “i know i dating rumors” started it”

Pedro Pascal has never been better in his entire life than in Behemoth! (🌟🌟🌟🌟). Wow. Just wow. What I just witnessed from Pascal was stunning - I barely have the words. And this is coming from a guy who’s thrown so much criticism at Pascal in the past 2 years. I’ve taken Pascal to task more than anyone. I literally said Pascal was being over-exposed. But look at me now. Look at me eat shit. I have no other choice because I can’t believe what I just witnessed from Pedro. A mature, nuanced, career-defining performance from a man whose career is still growing before our very eyes. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, a man I adore infinitely, Behemoth! is one of the best films of 2026.  Those of you who’ve followed me long enough know by now that I am a violinist of 25 years. I first-chaired at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was recruited to play at USC, and played in the San Francisco Civic Symphony when I lived in SF. All of which is to say I get extremely territorial when it comes to films about classical music & the fight those musicians go through on a daily basis just to survive. When done wrong, nothing offends me more. When done right? Nothing hits me harder. This is a film that unquestionably does it right. And here’s why.  Behemoth! is a difficult movie to summarize in a few sentences, because, as the film’s tagline reads, this is a story about a man’s life in pieces. Pascal plays gifted cellist Alex Serian, a man whose life we follow across multiple timelines. The entire idea here is that while Serian is defined by his amazing talent as a cellist, the generations of musicians in his family that came before him & his complicated ever-changing love life have all left him at an inexplicable place in the world. The whole idea here is we follow Serian through the ups & downs of…life. That’s really it. There isn’t a march towards some massive final act. There isn’t a crescendo to a big showdown. This is literally following the life and times of a man who is lost.  And in that sense, the biggest compliment I can give this film is it feels like it’s out of the ‘70s. Tony Gilroy wrote and directed this film. I can’t understate how important that fact is because Gilroy is both a creative genius and a student of Cinema. The same man who wrote multiple episodes of Andor & Michael Clayton, had Gilroy never picked up a pen or camera again in his life, his impact on me would still last forever. But with Behemoth!, it’s clear that Gilroy wanted to make a piece of throwback Cinema - a story that guides us from one chapter of a man’s life to the next. The destination is irrelevant. This is just such a human story. It’s so impossibly real. All of that is because of Gilroy’s writing. But then there’s Gilroy’s direction. Dear mother of god. This man directed the absolute shit out of this movie. The shots of Los Angeles are breathtaking. The editing was superb. But nothing compares to the sound - the sound in this movie, whether it be just Pascal moving on with his life in Los Angeles or the actual performances, the music itself, the quartets - the symphonies - are all fucking breathtaking and all done well. Gilroy’s direction honors the arts. He pays respect to the classical musicians who give their fucking lives to do this on a daily basis. My love for Gilroy skyrocketed after this film & I didn’t think that was possible. I just can’t believe Gilroy’s direction surpassed his writing…