So
you have this romantic film directed by one of the world’s best directors for
this sort of material, Wong Kar Wai (In The Mood For Love). The film’s at
Cannes, and it’s got an incredible ensemble cast headed by singer Norah Jones
and Jude Law, but also containing Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Tim Roth, and
David Strathairn. When it comes time to put together the world’s first look, it
only makes sense to grab whatever adult contemporary song about relationships
is hot right now, showcase a few sweet scenes between your leads, and then run
down the pedigree of the director and the incredible supporting cast, right?
Sure,
if you want people to confuse this with excrement like The Holiday. But since
you got something special here, perhaps a road slightly less traveled would be
more appropriate. And so it goes with the first look at My Blueberry Nights. Now,
granted, this isn’t the official scrubbed-for-American-audiences Weinstein
Company trailer (which had better be damn good given the abysmal mis-promotion
of Grindhouse
and the questionable Weinstein Company track record thus far), but it is the
first real trailer for the movie and it takes a somewhat different tact of putting
the title upfront and emphasizing Law and Jones to the absolute exclusion of
the rest of its noteworthy cast. They don’t even get name-checked. Sure, it’s
set to Jones’ Cat Power music, but we’re not talking Kelly Clarkson or anything.
Still,
I love this little nugget as I expect I’ll love the film. Hopefully, the
Weinsteins don’t change this too much as it’s kind of refreshing to get an
unorthodox look at a conventional genre, and that different sort of trailer
strategy worked in spades for The Devil Wears Prada. You can check
out the goodness for yourself right here.