This Week In Trailers: Mindhorn, Flatball, Lost In Paris, Cargo, Band Aid
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 go retro with our comedy, wonder aloud why Alec Baldwin is narrating a documentary on ultimate Frisbee, go on walkabout through Paris, go overboard, and we get the band back together.Band Aid Trailer
Actress Zoe Lister-Jones has turned her talents towards directing and her inaugural effort looks absolutely charming. I mean, as we waddle through the narrative of what brings us all here today, and what this movie is going to present, I went from being absolutely ice cold with these kids to really enjoying where we end up. The pull-quotes, no question, help ballast this thing, as well as the festival credentials that it flashes. Fred Armisen provides that right amount of weirdness and turns what could have been a navel gazing snoozer into a modern day look into relationships by having, possibly, something novel to say about it. Even if it doesn't, it's got the right vibe.
Cargo Trailer
You're in or you're out.
What genuinely grabs you about director Gilles Coulier's story about a family who has to come to terms with their past, their present and their future is just how dramatic and heavy this feels. It's w world away but the trailer doesn't focus on its otherness, rather, it chooses to dial into the things that connect all of us regardless of geospatial differences. It's a family story about how someone can move from one stage of their life into a new one or whether that has to happen at all if you decide that being dragged while kicking and screaming is an OK way to make your way through life. There is great attention paid to scope both big and small here and this trailer simply devastates on all levels.
Lost In Paris Trailer
I like the cut of their jib.
Directors Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon want to present a story that is quaint, small in scale, and doesn't feel offensive in any capacity whatsoever. In the best way possible, this looks like slapstick-y version of Amelie with a little Buster Keaton nuttiness thrown in for good measure. I'm not quite sure I have a handle on the narrative but the pull-quotes certainly help vouch for what looks like a rather pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Flatball Trailer
I don't get it but I'm mesmerized.
True story: I realized that ultimate Frisbee was a "thing" only after seeing 1994's PCU starring Jeremy Piven and a young Jon Favreau ("What's this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy." Still love it.) Director Dennis Warsen is taking us on a trip of this nutty sport by way of narrator Alec Baldwin(!) which I'm still scratching my noggin to try and understand the connection. That being said, though, this looks like endless, mindless fun. The world is not in balance, the information imparted here will not bring world leaders together but the trailer is good enough to hold my fleeting attention. As well, anything that trigger a flashback always gets an upvote in my world.
Mindhorn Trailer
Nope, don't understand anything in this thing.
That said, though, after watching Steve Coogan in Tropic Thunder I was reminded that I love watching that guy work. And, for a property like this which looks absurd and nutty and nonsensical to resonate with me there is at least a modicum of buy-in to say I'll turn it on and watch it. With Netflix they're making it all too easy to at least graze at their cinematic smorgasbord. The bar of entry is low (just enter the name of this thing) and the reward could be well-worth your free-time. Director Sean Foley appears to know what he wants and I couldn't be more open to letting him have it.
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: