Men
I was excited for this, not just because of Alex Garland being a pretty terrific filmmaker, but because I’m excited to see more Jessie Buckley, especially in a starring role. But I gotta say, Rory Kinnear did not come here to mess around, he is putting in the work here. When I first saw the teaser, I was intrigued, but I couldn’t get a grasp on what Garland was going for, and I certainly did not expect this. I’m a lot more excited for this, and if it’s anywhere close to his previous projects, this will be awesome.
Men hits theaters on May 20th.
Vortex
I like me some Gaspar Noé craziness, but by all accounts, this one seems to be significantly more chill. That said, the form here is where things are getting wild. I can’t say I’ve seen a split-screen format that looks like this, especially with certain scenes having frames that could almost work as one connected shot, but still kept separated. Could this be Gaspar Noé’s Amour? We shall see.
Vortex will open in select theaters starting April 29th.
Where The Crawdads Sing
I was really impressed by Daisy Edgar-Jones in Fresh, I hadn’t seen her in anything else, though I hear Normal People is very good. I’m not really sure what to make of this so-called “worldwide phenomenon.” I dig the story and the setup here, but it all seems a little too slick, too clean, and lacking the grit a story like this should have. I don’t know if the book this is based on is YA-oriented or goes to some dark places, I don’t think they’d advertise a Taylor Swift song if it did, but who knows, I might be wrong. I am intrigued, and I do want to see more of Daisy Edgar-Jones, so I’ll be seeing it.
Where The Crawdads Sing hits theaters on July 15th.
Paris, 13th District
Yeah, I’m really into this. I haven’t seen all of Jacques Audiard’s films, but the handful that I have seen have all been pretty terrific. This also feels so much lighter than those, so it’ll be cool to see that side of him, though it wouldn’t surprise me if he has done material like this before, like I said, it’s still a filmography I need to get into more. Plus, a screenwriting credit from Céline Sciamma is pretty enticing as well.
Paris, 13th District opens in select theaters and VOD platforms on April 15th.
Saturday Fiction
Gong Li in a espionage film? Sounds like my cup of tea. I’m not familiar with the works of Ye Lou, but this looks like it will be a pretty good starting point into his library. Gong Li brings it to practically every role she takes, so I’m always up for whatever she does next. This looks pretty good, so I’ll keep my eye out for it.
Saturday Fiction opens in select theaters starting on April 22nd.
The Girl And The Spider
Thought I’d throw this one here too. Haven’t heard of it prior to this. It’s a Swiss film, and it played at a couple big festivals. Can’t say I totally get what they’re going for here, but I’m still curious. It looks weird, but it might be my kind of weird. Hard to say for sure now, but if I can get access to this one, I’ll try to check it out. I haven’t seen a ton of films from Switzerland, and I’m always looking to expand my cinematic horizons.
The Girl And The Spider will be released in select theaters starting April 8th.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!