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I have a debate with friends over the efficacy of teaser trailers.
Now, for those of you who don't know the difference, let me explain just a bit. A full coming attractions trailer is a stand-alone work of art that tries as best as is humanly possible to encapsulate the breadth of the forthcoming story along with separate highlights made by the assembled cast. When done right, it gives the audience a welcome sense of what the completed project has to functionally offer without granting them so much information as to spoil any of the surprises that are learned along the way. In constrast, the teaser trailer is -- generally speaking -- very short, and it is meant to be more of an appetizer than it is a full taste of what cinematic delight awaits the watchers. They often tend to be quizzical -- never really doing anything more than to whet one's taste buds -- and might even through a sheen of doubt over what's truly waiting in store.
When it comes to teasers, I hate them. Compatriots of mine insist that they're works of sheer genius, tantalizing a potential audience with whatever they might deliver, be that a joke, a jest, or an enigma. My point is that I've seen far more of them produced that risk foisting a cloud of ambiguity over a property, and why gamble with winning some ticket buyers with something that might eventually be a misdirection? Give me something of substance, or give me nothing. That's just how I'm wired, kiddos.
In any event, I received a press release this morning regarding a little something-something called Rumours; and the teaser was -- ahem -- curious enough that I thought it worth sharing with the readership. Check it out -- it's under a minute in run-time -- and you'll see what I mean. You learn nada ... but that, too, might be what its makers really wanted after all.
You know what to do.
Now, for those of you who don't know the difference, let me explain just a bit. A full coming attractions trailer is a stand-alone work of art that tries as best as is humanly possible to encapsulate the breadth of the forthcoming story along with separate highlights made by the assembled cast. When done right, it gives the audience a welcome sense of what the completed project has to functionally offer without granting them so much information as to spoil any of the surprises that are learned along the way. In constrast, the teaser trailer is -- generally speaking -- very short, and it is meant to be more of an appetizer than it is a full taste of what cinematic delight awaits the watchers. They often tend to be quizzical -- never really doing anything more than to whet one's taste buds -- and might even through a sheen of doubt over what's truly waiting in store.
When it comes to teasers, I hate them. Compatriots of mine insist that they're works of sheer genius, tantalizing a potential audience with whatever they might deliver, be that a joke, a jest, or an enigma. My point is that I've seen far more of them produced that risk foisting a cloud of ambiguity over a property, and why gamble with winning some ticket buyers with something that might eventually be a misdirection? Give me something of substance, or give me nothing. That's just how I'm wired, kiddos.
In any event, I received a press release this morning regarding a little something-something called Rumours; and the teaser was -- ahem -- curious enough that I thought it worth sharing with the readership. Check it out -- it's under a minute in run-time -- and you'll see what I mean. You learn nada ... but that, too, might be what its makers really wanted after all.
You know what to do.
rumours
IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE OCTOBER 18
Starring Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Roy Dupuis, Charles Dance, and more
Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson
"WILDLY ENTERTAINING. A laugh-out-loud political satire."
- Guy Lodge, Variety
"A wry upmarket variation on pulp horror... A cross between Dr Strangelove,
Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel and Night of the Living Dead."
- Jonathan Romney, Screen International
Starring Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Roy Dupuis, Charles Dance, and more
Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson
"WILDLY ENTERTAINING. A laugh-out-loud political satire."
- Guy Lodge, Variety
"A wry upmarket variation on pulp horror... A cross between Dr Strangelove,
Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel and Night of the Living Dead."
- Jonathan Romney, Screen International
Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera, Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone. A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, the latest film from incomparable directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world.
Directed & Written by: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira, Denis Ménochet, Rolando Ravello, Zlatko Buric, Alicia Vikander
Produced by: Liz Jarvis, Philipp Kreuzer, Lars Knudsen,
Executive Produced by: Ari Aster, Cate Blanchett
Directed & Written by: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira, Denis Ménochet, Rolando Ravello, Zlatko Buric, Alicia Vikander
Produced by: Liz Jarvis, Philipp Kreuzer, Lars Knudsen,
Executive Produced by: Ari Aster, Cate Blanchett
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