Trailing Off: "White Bird in a Blizzard"

Shailene Woodley

Welcome to the weekly column Trailing Off in which I take a look at a trailer from the past week and analyze its potential. This will be done using an obnoxious amount of analyzing and personal thoughts on the cast and crew as well as expectations. Coming every Sunday (it's called Trailing Off for a reason), I will attempt to highlight films ranging from new blockbusters to lesser known indies and give them their due. Partially to spread awareness, I do believe that there is an art to the sell and will do my best to highlight why these trailers matter or don't with approval (trove) or disapproval (trash). So please stop by, recommend some trailers, and I will see you next time.

Trailer in Discussion

Directed By: Gregg Araki

Written By: Gregg Araki (Screenplay), Laura Kasischke (Novel)
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni

- Preamble -

For my money, there are few promising new stars that are as interesting as Shailene Woodley. While she may not have nearly as high of a profile as Jennifer Lawrence, she does have an every girl charm to her. She even has her own young adult franchise (Divergent) and soapy teen film to get her an iconic status (The Fault in Our Stars). It is a great year for her and after last year saw the excellent The Spectacular Now present one of the most endearing portraits of teenage romance, I am excited to see what she does next. 

For the most part, she is following a typical trajectory of her peers and starring in the cliche type of films. This isn't a bad thing, though it isn't necessarily an exciting path to take when compared to other young female artists who challenge themselves such as Mia Wasikowska and Saoirse Ronan. Of course, it really just takes the right role. It doesn't seem likely that it will ever happen for her the way that Lawrence has now received three Oscar nominations, but there's still room to be surprised. After all, she is 22 and has already had a few hits on her hands. That's more than most actresses her age can say.

Then there is White Bird in a Blizzard, which looks to be her breakaway role. While I am not entirely familiar with Gregg Araki's work, I have seen Smiley Face, and he has a perversely unique viewpoint of the world. He is comedic and full of challenging material. From what vague research I have done, he is more of a sexual director who explores gender identity and makes them into fascinating character studies. I'm just going to assume that this is what's going on here.

Together, I do feel like Araki and Woodley could do something interesting. Having missed the film at Sundance, all I have to go off of are the lukewarm reactions that I have read about from various critics. Even then, the choice that Woodley would even consider doing something obscure and sexual is exciting, if just because of its potential to be something radically different from her normality. My excitement grows because of that. With that said, I haven't seen anything of hers quite on the level of The Spectacular Now yet, but there's always room for a changing opinion.

Eva Green

- Dissection -

For some reason, this film feels very much like Stoker. For those who don't know, that was a film from 2013 which ended up being my favorite film of the year. It was a horror film with a lot of pulpy elements that made high strung tension and gothic scenery into its own form of beautiful poetry. While this film doesn't look nearly as concrete in a visual sense, it does have this eerie vibe that connects the two in ways that I am not sure is a bad thing. Eva Green feels reminiscent of Nichole Kidman and Shailene Woodley of Mia Wasikowska. The only thing missing is the excellent soundtrack to back everything up.

But seriously, the idea that the film is "sexual" is immediately answered in the opening shot where Woodley is seen in tangles with a naked man. As the story evolves, it reveals that her family is somewhat dysfunctional and her mother (Green) has run away. I am not entirely what all is going on, but I get the overall tone and have an intriguing reaction to it. What does all of this mean? Is it symbolism and does it paint a larger picture? Why is Woodley standing in the blizzard, or is she the titular metaphor? There's so many questions that I wouldn't mind having answered.

What can be said is that that the tonal qualities present are enticing. Besides the pull quotes that back my already established interest, this looks to be a tale of eroticism and coming of age. With a great cast, there seems to be little chance for it to fail. Who knows, this could be Araki's big breakthrough. Either that, or Woodley fans will backlash for it being too weird and creepy akin to everyone who was involved with Spring Breakers. Nonetheless, this is one of the many reasons that I continue to support Woodley. I hope that she eventually gets to make films like these that appeal to a more "creative" sensibility.

Left to right: Woodley and Christopher Meloni

- One Sentence Sell -

Shailene Woodley gets sexual and metaphorical in a new film about trying to discover yourself while also losing your mother.

- Trove or Trash -

TROVE

Plain and simple: I didn't know what to expect going in and am left very intrigued by what was present. There's a lot of pulp and sexuality, but there looks to be deeper contexts and a sense of beautiful surrealism to follow. I don't know entirely what to expect, but in terms of selling me on a film that I know very little about, this has done an excellent job of doing so. I just hope that its venture onto VOD prior to theatrical release isn't a warning sign of its quality.