It's getting into that time of year when smaller, quieter dramas come out, and I got to see one I was pretty excited about last weekend: Certain Women, the new Kelly Reichardt film starring Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Kristen Stewart. I'm a huge fan of Reichardt's films, and this one is no exception.
The movie is essentially three standalone shorts about lonely women. They're all extremely different in subject, but somehow end up feeling so right together.
One thing I noticed about all three segments is that they have a tendency to suddenly jump ahead in time, often by days, to get right to the next step of an interaction. One moment a woman is planning a Friday meeting, the next moment she's in that meeting. It has the effect of making the moments of these women's lives blur together, and it feels like what we're seeing are the only things that matter to them. What's in between is just time to be filled until the moments they're looking forward to.
Read on for seven trailers from this week worth checking out.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
The return of Gilmore Girls is just a month away, so this week, Netflix put out a good long look at it. This is the first trailer to really dive into what everyone in the Gilmoreverse has been up to, and it really doesn't leave anyone out. If you want to go on a nostalgia trip, click play. And then read this next. The four-episode revival is out on November 25th.
Sherlock
Few shows are both as anticipated and as up in the air as to when they'll return as Sherlock, which is what makes this trailer an exciting one: it includes the date for the series' season four premiere: January 1st.
I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House
Hey, it's Halloween weekend and it just so happens that Netflix put out a new horror movie yesterday. I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House got some mixed reviews out of the Toronto International Film Festival, but this trailer for it still looks really intriguing, insofar as, I have literally no idea what's going on. But it makes even the most mundane tasks look eerie.
Split
A villain having multiple personalities is almost an immediate cliche at this point, but it seems like M. Night Shyamalan might have figured out something a little more interesting to do with the trope. Split has a group of kidnapped women trying to escape their captor with the help (and hinderance) of his other identities. From the looks of it, it could be a good mix of creepy and thrilling. It's out on January 20th.
Crosscurrent
Do I have any idea what this movie is about? No. But I'm pretty into it nonetheless. The film is kind of about a river and kind of about time and the way people change. It was shot by the same cinematographer who worked on In The Mood for Love, and it looks appropriately gorgeous. It's starting to open this weekend in New York and then expands to a few other cities in North America next month.
Mifune: The Last Samurai
Keanu Reeves narrates this documentary about Toshiro Mifune, an iconic actor whose work in samurai films — including Rashomon and Seven Samurai — has gone on to inspire decades of filmmaking. Even if you're not that familiar with Mifune's work, it's fascinating to hear directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese comment on why it's so important. It comes out November 25th.
Burn Country
This looks like it could be a pretty interesting thriller. But if for no other reason, watch it for James Franco's wig.