Sara Bentley reviews everyone's favourite part of the going to The Pictures - the trailers...
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Control and Chaos: Five Hour Friends
Tim is a man who plays by the rules. His own rules. His life is akin to a game of golf. An individual and independent game of meticulous rules. Rules make the game possible, and show us where we are. Most importantly, the game is all about him. What happens, however, when people don’t play by the rules? His rules? Theo Davies’s debut feature stars Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan) as Timothy Bonner, a habitual womaniser whose rules dictate his life and all that revolve around him.
The trailer for Five Hour Friends is initially narrated from the voice of Timothy’s son, Kyle (David Sneer), who introduces his father in all his drinking, partying and womanising glory. Dictated with a certain sneer and disgust, Kyle reviews his father’s game plan. From the golf course to the bedroom, Tim’s rules are manipulated and twisted to suit. His ‘holy grail’ on the course, as Kyle describes, is paled and hazed as Tim’s ‘five hour friends’ satisfy a need within the protagonist to keep on top of the game and in control of those surrounding him. A montage of shots and images compliment the voiceover to frame Tim within this bleak perspective.
Kyle was not part of Tim’s game plan. When Kyle arrived, rules were broken. When rules are broken, chaos occurs. The trailer progresses with this chaotic shift and change. Narrative driven, teasing scenes link together, hinting and suggestive, as a faltering Tim struggles to grasp control of the game.
This comprehensive trailer presents an intriguing debut feature for Davies. With a few familiar faces to boost its credentials, the director looks to have hit the ground running.
Five Hour Friends remains in post production and a release date is yet to be confirmed.
Golden Fantasies: Life of Pi
A ship struggles to battle through a storm at sea. The wind rages and rain lashes down as waves career dramatically over the ships body. A young boy dives into the hull of the ship as he searches to escape; a zebra swims by. Inhabiting a lifeboat, the boy is dramatically dropped from the ship to the sea, handing his fate to the elements. All is then quiet.
Ang Lee has had a magical career, responsible for such epics as Brokeback Mountain (Heath Ledger) and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Yun-Fat Chow). The director now turns his attention to more magic in an adaptation of Yann Martel’s award winning novel Life of Pi. The story follows Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma), the son of an Indian Zoo Keeper who survives a shipwreck to find himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean with just a few zoo animals for company.
The teaser trailer for Life of Pi is edited with a penchant for the fantastical. Visually stunning, a liquid gold sun beams through soft clouds, glazing across the still and glistening ocean as Pi pulls his boat to safety. The camerawork is consistently animated, swooping in and between scenes to compliment the wild animals and they capture the screen. Throughout the action, written statements encased within a black frame push the narrative, suggesting its direction. Narrative progression is, however, not the aim of this trailer. This is two minutes of the spectacular. Sharp colour and bright lights take over in mesmeric fashion as a montage of shots slide together with as much vigour and pace as the camerawork itself. As a whale breaks the surface of the water, crashing through the waves, just moments from our protagonist, there is only awe to behold.
Life of Pi is a fantasy story shot with a fantastical approach. The trailer suggests and promises a feature of epic proportions, and with Lee’s proven track record, an epic is certainly on the cards.
Life of Pi is due to be released in the UK on 21st December 2012.
Vague Intrigue: The Canyons
Upon my first viewing of the recently released teaser trailer for Paul Schrader’s The Canyons, admittedly I immediately assumed I’d clicked on the wrong link. Surely this wasn’t the trailer? After a little searching and eventual patience to view the media clip in its two minute entirety, it soon dawned that I had indeed been watching the correct video all along. The Canyons is marketed currently with the tagline ‘It’s not the Hills’. Naturally I commence my viewing of the trailer with the preconception that this is probably going to match up quite ardently to an extended episode of The Hills. There were certainly assumptions as to which direction my immediate impression would venture towards. The impression I wasn’t banking on however was a complete and utter bafflement as to what exactly lay before me.
The word ambiguous springs to mind. An ambiguous montage of shots and stills that would appear to have just the one connection – Los Angeles. From the dazzling city night lights to the majestic architecture; the humble theatres and cinemas to a breathtaking skyline, this is LA in all its visual glory. This teaser is quite simply a visual feast. With no apparent link between the shots other than their location, image after image combine to the rhythmical pulse of the soundtrack to capture and frame the city from every potential angle. There are no associations to cast or character, and so LA becomes our point of identity.
Bizarre, non-descriptive, peculiar? Without a doubt. Though with each and every viewing, a deeper poignancy comes into light. The words of The Dum Dum Girls ring a little sharper. 'You abuse the ones who love you'; ‘If you ever had a real heart, I don’t think you’d know where to start’. What exactly is this film about? Potentially obscure and far too stylistically vague for its own good; yet it's frustratingly intriguing to an addictive extent. There is perhaps no justified explanation as to why, but something seems to dictate within me that this is not a trailer, nor a feature film for that matter, to be dismissed.
A confirmed release date in 2013 is yet to be released for The Canyons.
Sara Bentley![]()
Control and Chaos: Five Hour Friends
Tim is a man who plays by the rules. His own rules. His life is akin to a game of golf. An individual and independent game of meticulous rules. Rules make the game possible, and show us where we are. Most importantly, the game is all about him. What happens, however, when people don’t play by the rules? His rules? Theo Davies’s debut feature stars Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan) as Timothy Bonner, a habitual womaniser whose rules dictate his life and all that revolve around him.
The trailer for Five Hour Friends is initially narrated from the voice of Timothy’s son, Kyle (David Sneer), who introduces his father in all his drinking, partying and womanising glory. Dictated with a certain sneer and disgust, Kyle reviews his father’s game plan. From the golf course to the bedroom, Tim’s rules are manipulated and twisted to suit. His ‘holy grail’ on the course, as Kyle describes, is paled and hazed as Tim’s ‘five hour friends’ satisfy a need within the protagonist to keep on top of the game and in control of those surrounding him. A montage of shots and images compliment the voiceover to frame Tim within this bleak perspective.
Kyle was not part of Tim’s game plan. When Kyle arrived, rules were broken. When rules are broken, chaos occurs. The trailer progresses with this chaotic shift and change. Narrative driven, teasing scenes link together, hinting and suggestive, as a faltering Tim struggles to grasp control of the game.
This comprehensive trailer presents an intriguing debut feature for Davies. With a few familiar faces to boost its credentials, the director looks to have hit the ground running.
Five Hour Friends remains in post production and a release date is yet to be confirmed.
Golden Fantasies: Life of Pi
A ship struggles to battle through a storm at sea. The wind rages and rain lashes down as waves career dramatically over the ships body. A young boy dives into the hull of the ship as he searches to escape; a zebra swims by. Inhabiting a lifeboat, the boy is dramatically dropped from the ship to the sea, handing his fate to the elements. All is then quiet.
Ang Lee has had a magical career, responsible for such epics as Brokeback Mountain (Heath Ledger) and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Yun-Fat Chow). The director now turns his attention to more magic in an adaptation of Yann Martel’s award winning novel Life of Pi. The story follows Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma), the son of an Indian Zoo Keeper who survives a shipwreck to find himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean with just a few zoo animals for company.
The teaser trailer for Life of Pi is edited with a penchant for the fantastical. Visually stunning, a liquid gold sun beams through soft clouds, glazing across the still and glistening ocean as Pi pulls his boat to safety. The camerawork is consistently animated, swooping in and between scenes to compliment the wild animals and they capture the screen. Throughout the action, written statements encased within a black frame push the narrative, suggesting its direction. Narrative progression is, however, not the aim of this trailer. This is two minutes of the spectacular. Sharp colour and bright lights take over in mesmeric fashion as a montage of shots slide together with as much vigour and pace as the camerawork itself. As a whale breaks the surface of the water, crashing through the waves, just moments from our protagonist, there is only awe to behold.
Life of Pi is a fantasy story shot with a fantastical approach. The trailer suggests and promises a feature of epic proportions, and with Lee’s proven track record, an epic is certainly on the cards.
Life of Pi is due to be released in the UK on 21st December 2012.
Vague Intrigue: The Canyons
Upon my first viewing of the recently released teaser trailer for Paul Schrader’s The Canyons, admittedly I immediately assumed I’d clicked on the wrong link. Surely this wasn’t the trailer? After a little searching and eventual patience to view the media clip in its two minute entirety, it soon dawned that I had indeed been watching the correct video all along. The Canyons is marketed currently with the tagline ‘It’s not the Hills’. Naturally I commence my viewing of the trailer with the preconception that this is probably going to match up quite ardently to an extended episode of The Hills. There were certainly assumptions as to which direction my immediate impression would venture towards. The impression I wasn’t banking on however was a complete and utter bafflement as to what exactly lay before me.
The word ambiguous springs to mind. An ambiguous montage of shots and stills that would appear to have just the one connection – Los Angeles. From the dazzling city night lights to the majestic architecture; the humble theatres and cinemas to a breathtaking skyline, this is LA in all its visual glory. This teaser is quite simply a visual feast. With no apparent link between the shots other than their location, image after image combine to the rhythmical pulse of the soundtrack to capture and frame the city from every potential angle. There are no associations to cast or character, and so LA becomes our point of identity.
Bizarre, non-descriptive, peculiar? Without a doubt. Though with each and every viewing, a deeper poignancy comes into light. The words of The Dum Dum Girls ring a little sharper. 'You abuse the ones who love you'; ‘If you ever had a real heart, I don’t think you’d know where to start’. What exactly is this film about? Potentially obscure and far too stylistically vague for its own good; yet it's frustratingly intriguing to an addictive extent. There is perhaps no justified explanation as to why, but something seems to dictate within me that this is not a trailer, nor a feature film for that matter, to be dismissed.
A confirmed release date in 2013 is yet to be released for The Canyons.
Sara Bentley
