More AFM. More Promo Reels.

My final full day at the American Film Market pretty much confirmed what I’ve suspected all along here - that most distributors are holding their big titles back for Berlin - which made the pickings pretty slim in the screening rooms.  This isn’t to say I didn’t see anything I liked - Happy Flight was more than solid and we can expect a review from James Hadfield out of Tokyo soon, and Elio Quiroga’s No Do proved once again that he is Spain’s master of high concepts and stunning effects executed on zero budget, though the film is not without some flaws - but most of the best stuff existed in promo-reel format only.  And the top three?

Bronson.  Yes, we’ve talked about Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson rather a lot here and, yes, we’re still in love with the trailer.  We’re even more in love with the extended promo spot that shows off more of the character, more of the blazing performances and more of Refn’s unique style.  Hard to say which of Refn’s upcoming films - this one and Valhalla Rising - I’m looking forward to more at this point because both are looking so very, very good.

In The Loop.  Oh, sweet Lord, yes.  The big question for me with Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop was not how Iannucci would handle the move from television to film (just fine, thanks), or whether those unfamiliar with The Thick Of It would be lost (doesn’t appear so at all, no), or how the Brit actors would bear up (brilliantly, thanks).  Nope, my question lay with how the American end of the cast would fit into Iannucci’s world, particularly James Gandolfini, who was a rather surprising choice for this sort of rapid fire political satire.  Well, in an extended promo that had me laughing hard from start to finish Gandolfini had the very best moments.  So life is good on that front.  Very good, indeed.

Thirst.  Yes, it’s Park Chan Wooks new vampire film and while the promo was not color corrected and still featured some unfinished effects it was here on display and looking good.  The aesthetic is quite different from the Vengeance films but still very distinctively Park, the reel featured copious blood letting and a smidge of sex and the whole thing just looked absolutely worthy of all of the advance anticipation.