Undoubtedly, June’s big event is the release of Disclosure Day, featuring what might be John Williams’ final score for a Steven Spielberg film. However, the real surprise came from an unknown Czech composer who delivered one of the year’s best soundtracks.
STARBRIGHT – Luděk Dřízhal
THE MOVIE
When a strange object falls onto an isolated farm, a girl living with her grandparents begins to investigate what happened. There, she meets a man in the form of an angel who tells her about a tiny star with magical properties and asks her to protect it. But three criminals try to acquire it, and so Aisling’s struggle begins to prevent the star from falling into the wrong hands.
THE MUSIC
The film’s music is composed by the Czech Luděk Dřízhal, who, however, lives in Los Angeles and pursues his dream there. He is a violin prodigy, as he was called in Prague, and although he has been in America since the 90s, with studies and seminars at several universities, and is now 60 years old, he has never been assigned a major project. Unfortunately, in Hollywood, it’s not about how good you are, but which agency represents you, as major productions only work with 2-3 specific agencies.
The Czech’s score is therefore one of the best of 2026. A rich symphonic score performed by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra and Chorus with a plethora of themes, reminiscent of 80s and 90s works by Horner, Williams, and Goldsmith. The entire score is 125 minutes long, but 25 minutes are variations of classical songs and jazz pieces. The pure symphonic part is 100 minutes, and within these 100 minutes, the music says everything without ever becoming verbose or overly descriptive.
For the metaphysical element, Dřízhal has resorted to spiritual choral pieces, while for the relationship between the two protagonists, there are delicate and romantic moments with a wonderful love theme like “Angel and Chateau,” where the use of choirs is reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s Edward Scissorhands. For the adventurous plotline, we have amazing action cues utilizing all the capabilities a symphony orchestra offers, with phrases in strings, brass, and woodwinds, culminating in the cue “Car Chase.”
The main theme that permeates the score shifts between flute, violin, and the entire orchestra, recalling phrases from Jurassic Park, while the more lyrical parts have something of Horner and Cocoon.
Overall, it’s an old-fashioned score that encapsulates some of the best fantasy soundtracks.
Disclosure Day – John Williams
THE MOVIE
An idealistic cybersecurity expert steals a secret concerning the existence of alien life on Earth from the secret services and, together with a meteorologist and a Christian ex-nun, they try to bring the truth to the world.
A simplistic and naive Spielberg film, shot more like a spy movie than sci-fi. The script is full of conveniences and makeshift solutions, Emily Blunt’s performance is external, the effects are mediocre, and the restrained direction doesn’t help any sequence take off.
THE MUSIC
The 30th collaboration between the leading duo that has inspired generations of music and film lovers. When it was announced that Williams would compose the music for this film too, there was one question. What energy can a 94-year-old have to write symphonic music, which is the most difficult genre of all? The previous film, the fifth Indiana Jones, left music lovers and fans of the composer cold. While it was a full and very technical work that perfectly blended with the film and supported it excellently, when it came to individual listening, you couldn’t understand what you were hearing. Scattered leitmotifs here and there, never fully developing into themes with a beginning, middle, and end, descriptive action music without a memorable theme, and even Helena’s Theme, which was worked on as a concert version, was melodically very weak. Result: Excellent as musical support, indifferent as a standalone listen. We expected something similar from Disclosure Day.
However, Spielberg’s statement came, saying that this time the music in his film was not meant to provide propulsive force to the work but to support it discreetly. The director gave Williams a lot of time to write the score—6 months—and he, according to his biographer, wrote 2.5 hours of music all by himself! From these 2.5 hours, the best excerpts were put on the CD. In the film, initially, there is minimal music, appearing only for a few seconds as leitmotifs. In the last half hour, however, the music is continuous, though this does not mean it becomes the protagonist. In one of the rare moments of his career, Spielberg does not create entire sequences with music in the leading role. Even in action, half the sequence is without music. Thus, the result within the film is vague and disjointed. To understand the music, one must listen to it independently. And there lies the surprise. In independent listening, we find complete themes with a beginning, middle, and end, and clear lines. Of course, due to biological wear and tear, not all tracks can be equally valuable as a whole, but there are 4-5 that demonstrate Williams’ great class.
The score has two themes: action and drama. In the action cues, it’s a mix of War of the Worlds and Minority Report. Technically very good, but essentially, they have been done better. However, we must focus on the drama.
The score begins with “Listen,” which is also the most dramatic, an adagio with very dense string writing that is heard only in the end credits and never within the film. It is a wonderful theme that recalls the dramatic parts from the musician’s older works, without being able to say that he rehashed any specific theme. Many said it was Lincoln, others from Born on the 4th of July, some others from Angela’s Ashes, and a few from Amistad. The fact that the composer’s fans mention so many films means that the theme is fresh and new.
The second theme, “Memory,” played at the film’s finale as the characters confront their childhood trauma, has a very warm melody that tenderly embraces the characters, offers them familial warmth, and helps them overcome their trauma.
Another very beautiful inspiration is the cue “Believe,” a very tender and gentle theme related to the former nun, featuring the piano in the lead role, the harp in a supportive role, and existing to emphasize the human dimension in a religious person.
The “il Vivo” with vocals represents the otherworldly, the alien, and is heard whenever the animals appear. Here, however, it is more developed because it is heard minimally in the film. Thus, we can enjoy it in its complete form and feel the strangeness and the metaphysical. A wonderful variation of this theme can be found in the cue “Celestial,” where Williams develops it for 7 whole minutes, giving it a darker tone as well, since it refers to Emily Blunt’s character’s abduction by aliens.
Finally, the other theme I singled out is “Empathy,” which relates to Emily Blunt’s ability to understand someone’s past; it also has the piano as a guide, but as it culminates, the strings become lyrical in a very emotionally charged cue.
In conclusion, the score by the greatest composer of all time cannot stand as a whole like his older works. However, the mere creation of 4-5 themes with a beginning, middle, and end, at a time when others try but cannot even minimally write a memorable theme, proves to us that Williams will not be seen again. Let’s enjoy him while we still have him.
Ideal June playlist:
Creation – Luděk Dřízhal
Angel and Chateau – Luděk Dřízhal
Car Chase – Luděk Dřízhal
Listen – John Williams
Believe – John Williams
In Vivo… – John Williams
Empathy – John Williams
