This Week In Trailers: Make Up, Clapboard Jungle, Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, Tiny Creatures, Broken Law
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 come of age, fight with our brothers, get to know a mysterious fashion icon, get cutesy with some little animals, and sell our soul trying to make an independent film.
Make Up
You love to see first-time directors make a statement, and director Claire Oakley certainly seems to have made one with this.
On a remote holiday park in Cornwall, a young woman is drawn into a mysterious obsession when she suspects her boyfriend has cheated on her.
When The Telegraph gives your first feature a five-star review and calls it the best "British film of 2020 so far," there's something irresistible about that kind of praise. Watching the trailer, you can see why. The mood is perfectly set, the cinematography is lush, and the characters we meet are nothing short of intriguing. I'm not sure exactly what's happening, and that's okay. It's nice to try to figure things out while being all but convinced why this has resonated with some as deep as it has.
Broken Law
Director Paddy Slattery's debut feature feels like something I've seen before but there's still something fresh here.
Dave Connolly (Tristan Heanue) is a respected member of the Garda Síochána, but following a botched robbery, his loyalty to the law is tested by his ex-convict brother Joe (Graham Earley). Dave suddenly finds himself embroiled in a cover-up that somehow leads to a secret relationship with Amia (Gemma-Leah Devreux), an unhappily married woman who also happens to be the victim of his brother's crime.
It's gritty, feels weighty, and realistically exists in a world where brother is pitted against brother when one is an ex-con and the other is a cop. I think you can see where a lot of this is headed, but the trailer keeps things interesting. It has a nice tempo, it looks like it's shot well, and, I'm jonesing for a low-stakes crime drama. Score.
Tiny Creatures
Director Jonathan Jones may have bonafides from his work on Planet Earth II, but this is certainly his opus.
Tiny Creatures magnifies some of the world's smallest wildlife, finding that bigger isn't always better. In every episode, immerse yourself in a different ecosystem and see the drama that unfolds right at our very feet.
This is exactly the content that's needed right now. It's little animals being little, getting into big danger, escaping death, and I'm here for it all. The content is good for the entire family. And, in an era of being sandwiched nightly with everyone in the household, it's good to have options like this.
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words
I'm believing, and trusting, that director Reiner Holzemer has something powerful to share.
One of the most revolutionary and influential fashion designers of his time, Martin Margiela has remained an elusive figure the entirety of his decades-long career. From Jean Paul Gaultier's assistant to creative director at Hermès to leading his own House, Margiela never showed his face publicly and avoided interviews, but reinvented fashion with his radical style through forty-one provocative collections. Now, for the first time, the "Banksy of fashion" reveals his drawings, notes, and personal items in this exclusive, intimate profile of his vision.
As I am not one to throw on a documentary that fetes any purveyor of the high-fashion industry with its bougie, classist overtones, I gave this the benefit of the doubt because of Oscilloscope. A distributor like them must have seen something in this that makes this different from other documentaries of its kind that have come out in recent years. The trailer gives some clues of what that is. From the mysterious progenitor of these sartorial duds to this taking a less than conventional approach to exploring the material, my interest is piqued.
Clapboard Jungle
Director Justin McConnell breaks down what filmmaking is like for independent artists today.
Following five years in the life and career of independent filmmaker Justin McConnell, this documentary aims to understand the struggles of financing, attracting the right talent, working with practical effects and selling the finished product in the hope of turning a profit. Interviewing everyone from Guillermo del Toro, Paul Schrader, Dick Miller, Mick Garris, Tom Holland, Sid Haig and a hosts of other genre luminaries, not only are technical aspects and interpersonal skills discussed but also the emotional stamina and little known tips needed to survive in the low-budget film industry.
It never was a glamorous life if you made your own feature and used your own money and resources to do it. What McConnell does here is to give everyone an update on what it's like now for someone looking to do the same. Horrific, frightening, exhilarating, it's all in a day for a filmmaker existing on the fringe of the industry. Much like American Movie, this feels like an honest exploration of someone chasing a dream and what it takes to make it.
Nota bene: If you have any suggestions of trailers for possible inclusion 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: