Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.
Pandemics and cinema produce interesting things. Is The Cassandra Crossing one of these, or is it trash – and if so, is it the kind of trash that’s fun to watch? Check out Sam’s Six Damn Fine Degrees post to find out!
From the ridiculous to the sublime: Matt recently saw David Lowery’s The Green Knight and shared his thoughts on this strange, beguiling film.
And that’s it for this week’s post – but there are more trailers to come, so keep reading!
Sam: Admittedly, Swiss film productions that tackled interesting bits of Swiss history, didn’t feel stiltedly quaint and reached an international audience were previously hard to come by. Markus Imhoof’s Das Boot ist voll (1981) and Xavier Koller’s Reise der Hoffnung (1990) were successful exceptions. However, more recently, both film (Akte Grüninger, Zwingli, Die Göttliche Ordnung) and television (Frieden) proved that Swiss filmmaking can be daring, entertaining and make a buck at the same time. Will the same be true for Monte Verità, the new film by Stefan Jaeger, starring an assembly of popular Swiss and German actors (Max Hubacher, Hannah Herzsprung, Julia Jentsch and Joel Basman)? Its retelling of the goings-on on Ticino’s infamous mountain, where in the early 20th century, a cult-like free spirit and nudist community reigned, looks suitably dramatic and fittingly sensual. Will the topic resonate with present-day audiences and refresh the desire for a bubble of free spirits away from the world? And will it be another successful entry into refreshing Swiss cinema without the usual ‘Swissness’ feel to it? Too early to tell…
Matt: And let’s end on The Chair, the latest series starring Sandra Oh. She’s been a favourite of mine since (warning: confession time!) her time on Grey’s Anatomy, even if that series didn’t always serve her particularly well. I liked her a lot in Don McKellar’s oh-so-Canadian end-of-the-world film Last Night, and she ruled in Killing Eve even when the series lost its way after the first season. Even so: the trailer for The Chair looks a bit… lame, I’d have to say – but I suspect that if anyone can make more of the material than is there to begin with, Oh might be that person. I very much hope so, since she definitely deserves a healthy career.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 