TRUST
- or how to make a boring trailer for a probably boring film. The trailer for Trust presents a film that comes way too late in the game. This is the kind of film that should have been released 10 years ago, when the topic was still hot. Today, it is outdated. I am sure situations like this still occur, but it’s not news anymore, it’s not worth making a movie about at this stage. Rather than a “oh-my-daughter-what-have-they-done-to-you-I-must-avenge-you” bullshit Hollywood production, they could have made a serious movie out of it.
The graphics in the beginning advertise it as a social media study on the consequences of modern technology in our everyday lives. But the trailer develops into a thriller style edit. The set-up is a chronological, fast-paced, cheesy, dull display of emotion and crammed with irritating pseudo-symbolism, which makes me want to declare the thriller genre dead. No, really. This is pathetic and far from insightful. The snippet of Clive Owen contemplating guns is one of those shots in an edit that is overdone, ridiculous and self-indulgent as hell.
It is a piece full of distractions, jumbled and badly put together. It blends genres for no apparent reason, the edit is poor in style and content, it leaves the viewer numb and you are never really clear about what is going on. The only thing that looks remotely genuine and intriguing is Catherine Keener. Yes, she presents an over-dramatic display of emotion in this trailer, but Keener rarely disappoints, so there is light at the end of this boring tunnel. I hope…
Trust is not shown here as a movie that makes sense. And bad gets worse with the piano soundtrack and its appalling title. Christ. Catchy does not equal anything.
It just plain blows. 0/10
THE DOUBLE HOUR
The strength of this trailer lies in its ability to fool the audience.For the first minute, the viewers find themselves bored by a seemingly dull, although elegantly executed, love story between two grown people. Nothing else. It just looks like a film of talking heads, exchanges of gazes, speeches about the meaning of love and all that other non-sense that makes for a lot of bad indie movies.
However, the last 50 seconds, partly through the use of graphics, completely turn around what has been shown so far. Story lines are put in perspective and turned upside down, the pace quickens and this makes for a great change of style that hits home. It is a trailer that genuinely teases the audience and provides them with an unusual experience of trailer watching, which entices and seduces more efficiently than any other edit would.
This surprising turn really work in combination with its beginning, despite the drastic differences between the styles of cutting. The camera work is also very nice and suave, providing for captivating pictures and a sense that there are more and perhaps even better moments captured in the film itself, not just the trailer.
The only thing I would reproach the trailer of is using music by 30 Seconds To Mars. The intention is good: it is avoiding classical music, which is a bonus, as it has been seen too many times before. But the track in question is not hard-hitting enough and does not quite deliver. In fact, it is border-line off-putting. Nonetheless, this is something we can forgive the distributor /editor for, seeing as the rest of the trailer works so well.
The structure and execution of the trailer creates an overall nice mood, especially with the ultimate tag-line, the last spoken line (perfectly summing up the movie) and the whole atmosphere of the trailer: everything works wonderfully.
All elements are tied up really nicely and the trailer really says everything without saying anything. It demonstrates the effect of the power of suggestion and clever cutting. 8/10
APOLLO 18
Viewing this trailer for the first time, I was not sure what to make of it. It is bizarre and disturbing. It presents the film as an odd budding masterpiece of sci-fi horror. It uses conventional editing and tension build-ups cleverly and, without being outrageously original, it really works.The old faked footage bit is no stranger to the horror trailer, and in this instance it is not something that particularly disturbs or unsettles me. It is not original; it is merely a gimmick to set the story in motion and create style with substance (or is it the other way around?). However, the more of the contents I watch, the more I am lured into the story and it is strangely efficient.
I believe this is one of the reasons that the trailer is so strong: it does not take itself as phenomenally seriously as other trailers of its kind. Another reason is the minimal use of music to support the footage, which I am personally grateful for, as it avoids distracting me from the story.
This is another good example this week of a trailer that really teases. It uses the images and dialogue of the film well, albeit a bit constructed, a bit too set up. The trailer's structure could stand a bit of loosening up, in order for more audiences to be intrigued. For so far, it only amuses those who are already quite likely to watch the film anyway. By loosening its structure ever so slightly, it could attract an atypical and wider audience.
Sound design is key in this kind of film and it sounds marvellous. The editing creates a mood that escalates, not into an action movie type of montage, but rather a crescendo of emotion drawn from the viewer by using crucial and basic tools of editing. Hence why this is a solid, good trailer. 7/10
Louise-Afzal Faerkel
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