The Dig
I haven’t seen director Simon Stone’s debut feature The Daughter, but based on this, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a Terrence Malick fan. This movie has a similar look to a lot Malick’s recent stuff, especially his last film A Hidden Life (one of my favorite films of 2019). That’s not a new thing, a lot of filmmakers have been trying to ape his style, hell, it’s practically become a standard for a lot of commercials. Anyway, the idea of having a film about an excavation in rural England during the eve of WWII doesn’t sound like an exciting idea, yet I found the trailer quite enthralling. Not sure if I can pinpoint why, but I dig its vibe, and I love all the actors here. If the film is as strong as the trailer, we could start of 2021 on a strong note.
The Dig will open in select theaters January 15th and on Netflix January 29th, 2021.
Fatale
I don’t know if I’d call Deon Taylor a great director, but the guy’s been doing his thing for well over a decade now, and he does some solid stuff here and there. Really, I only find him stumbling when it comes to making films that are meant to deliver a message, that was an issue I had with Traffik, and to a lesser degree in Black And Blue, but when he’s just going for trashy fun, you get something like The Intruder, which was a really good time. Aside from the fact that the villain is a white female cop, it doesn’t seem like it’s overtly going for a broader theme here, so he might just be going for some trashy thrills, and I dig the basic premise here. And with this cast, I can see this being really fun.
Fatale opens in theaters on December 18th.
The Mauritanian
Man, I can be pretty forgiving when it comes to accents, but boy howdy, does Benedict Cumberbatch manage to somehow be one of the few Brits who can’t seem to do any kind of American accent to save his life. It’s not that he’s using the wrong muscles or is moving the tongue in the wrong position or whatever, it’s just that I can feel the effort in every syllable, and it’s super distracting. It was the same in Black Mass. Anyway, this movie does look pretty good. It does look rather basic, but it’s a story that’s certainly worth telling, and I guess it’s better to be told generically than not at all. Reliable director, reliable cast, I’m sure this will be just fine.
The Mauritanian will hit theaters on February 19th, 2021.
Red Dot
This Swedish flick must be a big deal if a) Netflix made a teaser for it and b) released it on their main YouTube channel, and not on one of their foreign ones. I’d believe it, this is a fantastic teaser. It has one of those “how did this not get made already” premises, and it did not take long for me to get into the groove of it. Love the idea, and I hope it sticks the landing. I don’t even need to see a full trailer to know I will check this out.
Red Dot will be available on Netflix on February 11th.
Two Of Us
This is France’s submission for the Oscars, and I can see why they went with it. This looks amazing. What a concept. Having an older, lesbian couple at the center, and play out this situation where a health crisis leaves one mute while also being closeted. I have no idea where a story like this could go. I haven’t heard much about the film, but considering it’s the one being submitted for the Oscars, I imagine it’d have to be at least pretty good. Either way, it’s one I’ll look out for.
Two Of Us opens in select theaters and VOD platforms on February 5th, 2021.
Identifying Features
Mexican cinema has been a bit of a blind spot for me with a few exceptions here and there. It’s one I’m definitely hoping I can catch up more on, especially when you got movies like this coming out of there. This looks great. I haven’t seen a lot of films directly about the experience of border crossing. I think the most high profile one that I’ve seen was the thriller Desierto, which was really compelling and engaging, but pretty thin when it came to its ideas. Anyway, I like the look of this, it looks interesting and harrowing, and it’s a story that is perfect for our times.
Identifying Features will open in select virtual cinemas on December 9th before expanding on January 22nd, 2021.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!