This Week In Trailers: God Help The Girl, Art And Craft, No Cameras Allowed, Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, Two Days, One Night

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we get ornery about video games, crash some summer concerts, pass some handcrafted art off as originals for funsies, feel sorry for Marion Cotillard, and feel butterflies in our heart for young love set to a Belle & Sebastian tempo.God Help the Girl Trailer

I might as well have that cartoon-y, animated, cellophane wrapped visage of a sucker.

What director, and lead singer of Belle & Sebastian, Stuart Murdoch has put before us is akin to visual catnip for a lovelorn scamp like myself. This teaser trailer is so short, so bereft of anything having to do with actual plot, that it transcends what a usual teaser ought to be and it becomes something far more pleasurable. What we have here is a quick descent into the candy coated moment that only needs a good pop hook to carry it forth. It blazes with a series of colors and shapes and focal points that it becomes intimately resonant in a way. With the props it gets from fellow critics it only bolsters its unstated promise to be something more than just a cheeky gallivant through the trials and tribulations of young lovers of love. It's going to be wonderful.

Art and Craft Trailer

There's something strange and weird about this guy but that's the attraction, isn't it?

Directors Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausmanm and Mark Becker landed on a subject that defies the usual stereotype of an art forger and he seems so crazy that he looks like the most level-headed man in the room. This trailer is smart in that it does two things: one, has a real swinging musical bed and, two, peppers in the critical accolades in order to keep you pulled into its odd tale. To have a guy who is so forthcoming about what he does, possesses not an ounce of shame for what he does and, in fact, delights in what he does simply for the thrill of the experience you cannot help but see his actions as incredible. To have duped dozens upon dozens of museums there has to be a modicum of talent behind the grift and this guy has it. There is no question that this trailer is dense with information, I don't blame them because it's damn near unbelievable, but it moves so fluidly between moment to moment. It's expertly edited in a way that makes art forgery seem exciting and captivating. This guy's a winner.

No Cameras Allowed Trailer

I hate this kid.

Sure, Marcus Haney looks like a very accomplished director and photographer but I am downright jealous for the perpetration of this guy's scam. Which, namely, is to get into events armed with a camera to capture what many of us in our prime would love to be able and do on a daily basis. What I am mostly taken with is how well made this looks. It could be that it has something to do with this documentary's affiliation with MTV but, for a channel who pioneered the quick cut, this trailer excels because of its expediency in setting up why we're here in the first place, what motivates our young protagonist and how this all comes together in narrative. It's light, it's airy, there doesn't seem to be much depth by way of trying to understand what this all means for the lad, but it knows what it is and it doesn't try and sell something that it is not.

Two Days, One Night Trailer

Directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne are back with a little more English.

Earlier this year we showed you this very same trailer. Just recently, though, the trailer resurfaced with subtitles to go along with it. It still works just as well as it did months ago but it does hit a little harder knowing what's afoot with Cotillard and why she's visiting with seemingly random individuals. It makes more sense and it only underscores even more that this will be a film filled with very little levity and will be heavy on the drama. It's fantastic, however, when you consider that this could be yet another performance that shows exactly how well Marion can handle a movie resting upon her shoulders if this trailer is any indication.

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Trailer

The indie spirit is strong with this one.

Directors Kevin Finn and the OG AVGN himself, James D. Rolfe, do a serviceable job in showcasing and blowing up the character that IS the AVGN to obnoxious proportions. While I can't say I think I'm the one this trailer is trying to entice I'm still impressed by how much moxie this trailer displays.

Nota bene: If you have any suggestions of trailers to possibly be included in this column, even have a trailer of your own to pitch, please let me know by sending me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com or look me up via Twitter at @Stipp

In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week:

  • Welcome to New York Trailer - I honestly have no idea what I just watched.
  • The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears Trailer - Every once in a while a trailer bends your third eye and this was it.
  • Big Hero 6 Trailer – Kind of really excited to see more after such a humorous and thoughtful trailer.
  • Rio, I Love You Trailer - Been a fan of this series for a while but this trailer just didn't find its mark with me.
  • Gotham Trailer - The use of slo-mo is killing me. Literally. Killing me.
  • Laggies Trailer - I like everyone involved but it's coming off too sweet for my tastes.
  • Ouija Trailer – Could not be more excited to completely ignore, and never see, this movie.
  • Annabelle Trailer – I wasn't freaked out as much I was left wondering what in the hell I just watched.
  • The One I Love Trailer – This left me feeling indifferent about whether or not I ever saw anything about this movie ever again.
  • Mommy Trailer – I don't know what kind of spell this cast on me but I genuinely connected with it.