BLUE VALENTINE
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in an indie flick about a young couple. If I had thought of it myself, I would give myself a congratulatory pad on the back for bringing together two of the best American actors under 30 of today. But before I expect too much and proceed to babbling on about the admiration I hold for the pair, I will comment on the trailer.
It starts out with black video over dialogue. Gosling asks Williams about her hidden talents: a charming and intriguing start, overshadowed by a multitude of titlecards announcing what various festivals the film has competed in. A standard thing for any distribution company to do, but due the simplicity of the rest of the trailer, it gets in the way. A simple black screen would have done wonders for it.
Cut to the couple standing outside a shop, Gosling holding a ukulele. Cute. Heart-warming. How could you not fall in love them both, as they start singing and dancing to each other?
The trailer then continues into scene grabs of the couple at different stages in their relationship. The singing by the male lead continues under these images, which make for a very different and underrated editing style. The viewer has the freedom to think of their own storyline due to the lack of dialogue, thus enticing and spell-binding the viewer.
Though the trailer may seem goofy and silly, a sense of foreboding danger comes across too. There is a feeling of something dark and maybe grim underlying in the story, making it quite original.
The trailer is in fact a succession of shots of the two characters laughing, kissing, crying, holding heads in hands. Be that as it may, the fact that there are only two people in the entire trailer is interesting and it works. It gives the audience the opportunity to concentrate on the storyline and the actors, drawing focus away from any production value the film may have.
It is very exciting indeed, but could possibly be boring and even pretentious.
It will either be a success or a series of talking heads.
RESTLESS
Guy draws a body outline of himself lying on the floor. Emo much? Or genuinely hurting?
This is how the trailer to Restless begins, immediately catching the viewer’s attention. It then proceeds into introducing its characters in a linear narrative with lots of appropriate fades between scenes.
Unlike most trailers, I found myself struggling to understand and identify with the characters. I hated being in that position because it was hard work. Trailers can be challenging in their editing, their content, etc. But ideally, you kind of just want to sit there and enjoy what is being played for you. This was not the case here.
“Pleasure is all yours I am sure” male lead Enoch (Henry Hopper) says – okay, Mr Smarty-pants. I still have faith in you, because I have a feeling I am watching an interesting and complex subject matter. I will also give you the benefit of the doubt as Gus van Sant is a master in handling delicate subjects. I have faith he will do good here. I’ll keep watching.
The young lad has an invisible friend called Hiroshi. Okay.
I am really trying to get into the mood because I am genuinely interested in this boy and his impending relationship with Annabelle (Mia Wasikowska). I can put myself into the imaginary friend thing, but when he turns out to be a ghost, I am having a hard time understand if we’re in reality, non-reality or Enoch’s genuinely bonkers. Time and space is undefined and the trailer is not very inviting, just “telling”. Not showing.
Surprising as it may seem, after Hiroshi actually spoke, I could relax, because this his introduction somehow put the pieces together. My curiosity was increased and I could watch and enjoy.
The climax comes not in the final montage so much as just the scene where Enoch confronts the doctor. From there on, it’s a very steady trailer, kept up by the soundtrack and soundbites. That scene is the ultimate confession of lover and what the audience has been waiting for.
I learned to enjoy the characters and I am sure they will be interesting to watch in the film. But I am unsure whether all the trouble I went through to understand the characters was worth it within the trailer itself?
I am not sure it was. It was not challenging in its edit or layout, just difficult, so I have my reservations about that.
BRIGHTON ROCK
Brighton Rock is the much anticipated adaptation of the Graham Greene novel of the same name, which deals with the relationship between young and innocent Rose (Andrea Riseborough) and slick crook Pinkie (Sam Riley). It is a story of first love. But the trailer is confusing in its introduction of the plot and dilemma of the two characters.
The film deals with the complex nature of how to create a balance between two such completely different lives as Rose’s and Pinkie’s. The story, as it is, is simple enough to relate to. Obviously, not all of us lead the characters’ lives, but we can relate to the relationship on some level. It’s a modern fairytale, with traditional twists and turns, it would seem. However, the dark and foreboding atmosphere in the trailer underlines the feeling that there is more at stake than we are directly told.
Nevertheless it is confusing at first about what the film is about. The scene on the pier, where we first are introduced to Rose, makes no sense out of the context of the film. I had to rewind three times in order to understand what was going on. Only once you have passed the hurdle of the first 40 seconds of the trailer can you fully start to understand what the movie deals with. Despite this, it looks to be a good piece of solid British drama in the most traditional sense.
All of this is summed up until the last line is delivered.
I would have preferred to see a different scene from the trailer to create the ultimate culmination. Pinkie’s line “You’re good, I am bad. We belong together” sums up whole film (as far as I can tell from the trailer). Simple but efficient. That should have been the last scene of the trailer. The actual last line (“[I am not scared] when I am with you”) is very close to borderline cheesy.
Somehow though, it avoids it. The setting on the cliff, Pinkie having Rose in chokehold, steers clear of the Twilight-esque-gaze-in-the-eyes-of-the-lover during delivery. This is why it is a great sentence in context, but not a strong one to end on.
Louise-Afzal Faerkel
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