McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine' Examined as AI Film and Timpani Premiere

Autumn arts programming across cinema and the concert stage is spotlighting ambitious structural experiments, from filmmaker Martin McDonagh's historical drama Wild Horse Nine and AI studio Fable's theatrical anthology Gods Don't Give Gifts featuring Grimes to the Seattle Symphony's world premiere of Joseph Pereira's timpani concerto Virtù at Benaroya Hall.

In a review published by Patch Lamorinda, critic coverage examines how director Martin McDonagh builds on the moral reckonings of In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin in Searchlight Pictures' Wild Horse Nine. Set in the months preceding the 1973 Chilean coup that overthrew Salvador Allende's government, the film follows veteran CIA operatives Chris (played by John Malkovich) and Lee (played by Sam Rockwell), whose involvement in efforts to destabilize Chile is interrupted by a trip to Easter Island as Chris grapples with terminal illness and begins confessing long-guarded secrets.

Their partnership is challenged by two Chilean students who support Allende—Monica (Mariana Di Girolamo) and Alicia (Ailín Salas)—whose reactions shift from curiosity to alarm as Chris candidly discusses American involvement in Chile. Filmed by cinematographer Ben Davis beneath Easter Island's ancient moai and vast ocean coastline, the drama balances melancholy and mordant comedy as it examines lingering political consequences.

Grimes Joins AI Theatrical Anthology 'Gods Don't Give Gifts'

In digital cinema, entertainment editor Andrew Webster (who joined the outlet in 2012 and has written over 4,000 stories) reported in The Verge — AI that pop musician Grimes will lend both her visual likeness and spoken vocal performance to Gods Don't Give Gifts, an AI-generated sci-fi anthology billed as the first AI film to come to theaters when it releases on December 4, 2026. Produced by AI studio Fable and directed by Jack London—known online under the handle Gossip Goblin—the anthology depicts four interconnected stories in a future where bodies are disposable and consciousness has been commoditized. Alongside the film, Grimes is also working on an AI-themed album titled Psy Opera.

Seattle Symphony Timpanist Steps to the Front of Benaroya Hall

On the orchestral stage, Hoodline reported that Seattle Symphony principal timpanist Eric Schweikert will step out of the back row to perform the world premiere of Virtù, an approximately 20-minute concerto written for five timpani and string orchestra by Los Angeles Philharmonic principal timpanist Joseph Pereira. Conducted by Music Director Xian Zhang on November 19, 21, and 22 at Benaroya Hall on a program paired with Mozart's Requiem featuring the Seattle Symphony Chorale, Virtù incorporates sustained passages, sliding pitches, plastic brushes near the edge of the lowest drum for sharp overtones, and allusions to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Bartók's Second Piano Concerto.

Schweikert, now in his fourth season with the Seattle Symphony after joining in 2023/2024 following 34 years with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and service as director of percussion studies at Purdue University Fort Wayne, previously performed Philip Glass's 2000 Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra (which premiered November 19, 2000, at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with Jonathan Haas, Svetoslav Stoyanov, and Leon Botstein, and was cited alongside James Oliverio's Dynasty Double Timpani Concerto—one of three timpani concertos by Oliverio—in a 2014 Valdosta Daily Times report on soloists David Morris and Mark Yancich). Pereira, who played with the New York Philharmonic from 1997 or January 1998 to September 2008 before joining the LA Phil under Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2007 or 2008, previously composed a 2012 Percussion Concerto premiered by Colin Currie and the 2018 timpani concerto Threshold conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, following broader percussion precedents like Joseph Schwantner's 1992–93 New York Philharmonic 150th-anniversary concerto. Co-commissioner New Jersey Symphony will present the East Coast premiere of Virtù from April 1 through 4, 2027, as part of 54 mainstage programs across five cities, featuring principal timpanist Gregory LaRosa.