The laughable trailer(s) and a rather spectacular NY Times piece about the borderline disastrous production of The Canyons pretty much struck a schadenfreude narrative right form the start for Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis’ LA drama. That will likely end up being the best thing that could have ever happened to the Lindsey Lohan and James Deen vehicle, as all real signs point to a boring, clunker of a bad movie. The pointing and laughing is all good when the train is heading for a great big crash in the canyon (pun intended), but when it ultimately loses steam right before the spectacular leap over the cliff and just sort of falls over, it’s not as fun anymore. Such will likely be the realization for audiences, if the clip we’ve seen is any indication. Even more damning? A snub from SXSW, which didn’t even bother to program it even with all the ironic hype.
In any event, IFC has step forward as the inevitable distributor to try and turn this mess of ironic interest into something when they release it in summer. I hope they got it cheap and turn a buck before the jig is up. Surely they’ll at least find a way to cut a real trailer, like a grown up movie would have.
As for the more interesting movies under IFC’s purview, the distributor has also set dates for Antiviral and Sightseers. The former is a slick, chilling body horror film from Brendan Cronenberg about which I had lots of good things to say. The film will get a theatrical run followed by a VOD release, all of which will start on April 12th.
Sightseers is the new film from Ben Wheatley, who I must cop to not having followed so far, despite raging endorsements. I’ll have to catch Kill List before May 10th, which is when Sightseers hits theaters (also followed by VOD). If you’re in my position as well, I’d consider doing the same- the buzz has been great.
Source | Film Stage