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| Kristen Stewart |
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: Olivier Assayas
Written By: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Anders Danielsen Lie, Lars Eidinger
- Preamble -
As it likely has been well chronicled, I am a defender of Kristen Stewart as an actress. I feel like she has done a ton of great work in the past few years. While there have been a few duds (American Ultra), there's also an entire filmography of underrated independent and world cinema that is being greatly ignored. Among them is last year's The Clouds of Sils Maria. It was a film that pitted her against Juliette Binoche and Chloe Moretz in a film that managed to explore women aging in one of the most artful and exciting ways of the year. It even earned her the French equivalent of an Oscar, which is saying something - especially since she is the first American to have done so.
In this film, she teams back up with the same director to provide a story that will hopefully be as engaging. However, it's already gotten a strange reception at Cannes. If you follow the international film festival, you'll know that Personal Shopper got booed. While this isn't always indicative of quality (just remember that The Tree of Life also got booed there), it does raise a certain hesitation for whatever comes next. Still, the film is likely to appeal to longtime fans and maybe it will even have a solid reception when it finally opens in limited release in a few months.
For now, I am curious to see if Stewart and Olivier Assayas can recapture the magic that made their last collaboration one of her best. While she isn't necessarily the actor with the widest range, she definitely has an underappreciated charisma that calls for attention in the right circumstances. She is nuanced and powerful in ways that aren't as obvious. Most would call that bad acting, but she does manage to suggest that the Twilight fad unfortunately sidelined her reputation by continuing to do far more interesting work in the time since. It's just a matter of giving it a chance now.
- Dissection -
For starters, I am sort of unsure what to do when it comes to international trailers. While I understand that they market the same movie, they still don't necessarily coincide with American releases. As the subtitles will suggest, it also isn't likely being done for anyone who is outside of Cannes during this week. However, it does give audiences their first look into the world of the film, and it does present quite an interesting look at the supernatural theme. There's a lot to dissect here that alone suggests that this is going to be an interesting movie.
Stewart is a "personal shopper" who has lost interest in her job and is being haunted by a ghost. While Assayas doesn't strike me as the type to just go for supernatural horror, I do think that there's going to be a lot of interesting things at play. Maybe the ghost will convince Stewart to love her career, or possibly the opposite. I am unsure, but even the cheesy music adds a nice haunting vibe to it. My main concern is that there's jump scares and the trailer seems to be gearing it as a conventional thriller. I am sure that Assayas will do something more than that, but it does have me worried.
Otherwise, I like the idea that this trailer doesn't play too many of its cards. It does manage to have enough to whet your appetite. You're left wanting answers to what the ghost is, and if she will ever escape the problems of her career. It may not be presented in any innovative way, but even within conventions there's a lot that's being suggested here. The idea of a pact to communicate with each other beyond the dead is an inspired twist. I want answers. If it's halfway as good as The Clouds of Sils Maria, it may actually end up being one of my favorites of the year. For now, it's just a compelling trailer to a film that hopefully is more than its boos at Cannes would have you believe.
- One Sentence Sell -
Kristen Stewart stars in an unconventional ghost story that features her also growing bored with buying people clothes.
- Trove or Trash -
TROVE
There's not a lot to go off of here, but I have to say that it at least does all of the work of a good trailer and has me curious enough to see what happens next. Not too many Trailing Off entries have that value, and I am thankful when I come across something like this.
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