How COULD a Trailer Pander More To My Interests?
December 20, 2021 6:45 AM Subscribe
A Trailer for Robert Egger's "The Northman". (SLYT)(Metal AF).
I am, currently, a sucker for his films. At this early point of a director's career, what type of film, what kind of constraint, what are actors' appetites to work with them are coming to light. I think...generally, 3rd film in...they start to hit stride.
Appreciate the post!
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:05 AM on December 20, 2021
Appreciate the post!
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:05 AM on December 20, 2021
this Mads Mikkelsen film set the bar for me, but where it was pretty weird the trailer for The Northman does look like a great ensemble piece of good, conventional Norse revenge epic
posted by elkevelvet at 7:11 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 7:11 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
Wait, it's in color and wide screen? What is this?
posted by octothorpe at 7:13 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:13 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
Is it just me, or does it seem like this movie is copying from that ancient English classic, The Lion King?
posted by Balna Watya at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2021 [18 favorites]
posted by Balna Watya at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2021 [18 favorites]
this Mads Mikkelsen film set the bar for me
Same. This looks like a movie I will see once it is on streaming, but it (and this is not a criticism) looks pretty conventional compared to Valhalla Rising.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:29 AM on December 20, 2021
Same. This looks like a movie I will see once it is on streaming, but it (and this is not a criticism) looks pretty conventional compared to Valhalla Rising.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:29 AM on December 20, 2021
Man, some of y'all are too damn blasé about Bjork playing a Norn or whatever it is going here.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:41 AM on December 20, 2021 [35 favorites]
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:41 AM on December 20, 2021 [35 favorites]
Man, some of y'all are too damn blasé about Bjork playing a Norn or whatever it is going here.
Because Bjork playing a Norn is like the least-surprising bit of casting since Ballad of Buster Scruggs cast Tom Waits as an old-timey prospector hermit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:55 AM on December 20, 2021 [73 favorites]
Because Bjork playing a Norn is like the least-surprising bit of casting since Ballad of Buster Scruggs cast Tom Waits as an old-timey prospector hermit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:55 AM on December 20, 2021 [73 favorites]
Well, whatever. It’s no Erik the Viking. That’s got proper berserkers.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:58 AM on December 20, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:58 AM on December 20, 2021 [9 favorites]
Dang that guy's got some family issues - as we say on Metafilter, try therapy.
posted by RajahKing at 7:59 AM on December 20, 2021
posted by RajahKing at 7:59 AM on December 20, 2021
Never heard someone call an Egger's movie "conventional" before today.
posted by Think_Long at 8:09 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Think_Long at 8:09 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
The Lighthouse was the last movie I saw in a cinema before the pandemic hit (sigh). This one might just be the one that gets me back in a theater.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:15 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Omon Ra at 8:15 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
the director's name is what would get me into the theatre. This trailer, I've gotta dump into the "revenge is boring" file.
Full reveal: I didn't make it to the end. Once the cute little boy became a big tough slave, I kinda got lost down a Conan tangent. The original movie. Except there it was his mom, I guess, that got her head so cinematically removed. Is there a big snake in this one?
posted by philip-random at 8:29 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
Full reveal: I didn't make it to the end. Once the cute little boy became a big tough slave, I kinda got lost down a Conan tangent. The original movie. Except there it was his mom, I guess, that got her head so cinematically removed. Is there a big snake in this one?
posted by philip-random at 8:29 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
What a roller coaster. Almost closed the trailer when nicole kidman showed up after it already being about mean europeans. I'm torn on revenge, I get the thrill and emotions of it, but it also feels a bit cheap, almost like a jump scare. Yeah, it works, but I'm not scared, just startled. Starting to feel that way about revenge plots, too-reliable/easy of a way to affect emotions and taps into parts of myself that don't seem like the best or most empathetic qualities.
Anyway, then the expert witch actress showed up playing some kind of witch and that's all they had to say. What's the rest of this trailer for? Just say "hey there's a witch in this, here's the date it's released" and we move on and wait to see the witch show.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:38 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
Anyway, then the expert witch actress showed up playing some kind of witch and that's all they had to say. What's the rest of this trailer for? Just say "hey there's a witch in this, here's the date it's released" and we move on and wait to see the witch show.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:38 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
this film appears to appeal to my interests in such a tight and direct fashion that i'm beginning to suspect that i am, in fact, a target demographic
don't care, gonna see it five times in the theater, pig in shit, etc.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:52 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
don't care, gonna see it five times in the theater, pig in shit, etc.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:52 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Never heard someone call an Egger's movie "conventional" before today.
"Valhalla Rising" concludes in N. America. After the brutal fighting and killing stuff, you're left with a question of contact, and I still think about the film and kind of want to re-watch it now tbh
No criticism of Eggers or "The Northman" but the trailer looks like what I'd expect, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing
posted by elkevelvet at 8:54 AM on December 20, 2021
"Valhalla Rising" concludes in N. America. After the brutal fighting and killing stuff, you're left with a question of contact, and I still think about the film and kind of want to re-watch it now tbh
No criticism of Eggers or "The Northman" but the trailer looks like what I'd expect, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing
posted by elkevelvet at 8:54 AM on December 20, 2021
One time my daughter couldn't think of Anya Taylor-Joy's name and said, "What if a mouse was blond" and I knew exactly who she was talking about.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:19 AM on December 20, 2021 [34 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 9:19 AM on December 20, 2021 [34 favorites]
I am very excited about this movie!
...but reading "in theaters" from America's east coast, as Omicron ramps up, being in a movie house now strikes me as dangerous as wading into a Viking encampment.
posted by doctornemo at 9:44 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
...but reading "in theaters" from America's east coast, as Omicron ramps up, being in a movie house now strikes me as dangerous as wading into a Viking encampment.
posted by doctornemo at 9:44 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
Just based on the trailers I'm more likely to see The Northman than Valhalla Rising. The latter has way too many cuts and is confusing AF.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:50 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:50 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
based on the trailers
it's not a great trailer.. but it's an interesting movie, highly imperfect but I watched it for Mad Mikkelsen and stuck around for the action/ideas.. I have friends who really disliked the film, others who loved it, I kind of like when movies do that
posted by elkevelvet at 9:58 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
it's not a great trailer.. but it's an interesting movie, highly imperfect but I watched it for Mad Mikkelsen and stuck around for the action/ideas.. I have friends who really disliked the film, others who loved it, I kind of like when movies do that
posted by elkevelvet at 9:58 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Wait.. you want me to sit in a large room for a couple of hours, with a few hundred strangers, all of whom are breathing?
Honestly, that just sounds both gross and foolishly dangerous.
Hard no.
posted by happyinmotion at 10:09 AM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
Honestly, that just sounds both gross and foolishly dangerous.
Hard no.
posted by happyinmotion at 10:09 AM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm torn on revenge, I get the thrill and emotions of it, but it also feels a bit cheap, almost like a jump scare.
Inigo Montoya would like to take a meeting with you.
posted by hypnogogue at 10:18 AM on December 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
Inigo Montoya would like to take a meeting with you.
posted by hypnogogue at 10:18 AM on December 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
I thought I knew revenge, then I watched I Saw the Devil
posted by elkevelvet at 10:22 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by elkevelvet at 10:22 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
I hate to say this, but: a documentary about the history of the Norsemen, with high-end Hollywood values, would be more interesting to me. For all the flaws of A Bridge Too Far (did it really have to have an "all-star cast"?), I felt more engaged with it from the first frame than with this. (The paratroop drop is a thing of cinematic beauty.) Maybe it's just me, but digging into the facts of the Norsemen (who had a pervasive impact on Europe and North America) would draw me in faster than some melodrama about another Chosen One.
posted by SPrintF at 10:27 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 10:27 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
On Amleth.
Aaah. Right.
Also there is a Valkyrie/Norn with braces near the end of the trailer.
posted by ishmael at 10:33 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Aaah. Right.
Also there is a Valkyrie/Norn with braces near the end of the trailer.
posted by ishmael at 10:33 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
I doubt this will be a conventional film. It's Eggers. Those going to be plenty of allegory and an ending that will take me hours to fully comprehend. Also, there will be goats.
posted by Ber at 10:36 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Ber at 10:36 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Well, whatever. It’s no Erik the Viking. That’s got proper berserkers.
I recently read Eric Brighteyes, after hearing that Stanley Kubrick always wanted to film it. I don't read a lot of romances, but holy damn, that story kind of slapped. I'd watch that movie.
This? Based on this trailer, the ONLY reason I'll give this a shot is because of Eggers. Fingers crossed.
posted by nushustu at 10:38 AM on December 20, 2021
I recently read Eric Brighteyes, after hearing that Stanley Kubrick always wanted to film it. I don't read a lot of romances, but holy damn, that story kind of slapped. I'd watch that movie.
This? Based on this trailer, the ONLY reason I'll give this a shot is because of Eggers. Fingers crossed.
posted by nushustu at 10:38 AM on December 20, 2021
On Amleth.
If it has enough elements of the proto-Hamlet story, it could get me interested. Bjork's sorceress looks great. But the trailer didn't emphasize much beyond battles scenes, so if it's just a swords and revenge film, it's not going to get my ticket sale.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:01 AM on December 20, 2021
If it has enough elements of the proto-Hamlet story, it could get me interested. Bjork's sorceress looks great. But the trailer didn't emphasize much beyond battles scenes, so if it's just a swords and revenge film, it's not going to get my ticket sale.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:01 AM on December 20, 2021
It's fine, I guess, but in recent years only one (short) film has done vikings right (in Danish, but subtitled).
posted by bouvin at 11:13 AM on December 20, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by bouvin at 11:13 AM on December 20, 2021 [15 favorites]
I also would prefer Mikkelsen to the handsomest man in all of Sweden.
posted by biffa at 11:15 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by biffa at 11:15 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
Inigo Montoya would like to take a meeting with you.
But even he admitted there's not a lot of money in revenge.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:19 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
But even he admitted there's not a lot of money in revenge.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:19 AM on December 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
If they have Heilung covering "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on the soundtrack, I might.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:24 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:24 AM on December 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
This looks like a lot of cliches about the middle ages and the Vikings. I think it's very interesting how these bold fearless directors ended up reciting the same tropes about masculinity and revenge and the muddy, cold, ugly, brutish pre-modern era, all one after another.
It certainly looks like very effective production design, cinematography, acting, and storytelling. But this is "visionary" directing without vision.
(At least based on the trailer.)
posted by lewedswiver at 11:50 AM on December 20, 2021
It certainly looks like very effective production design, cinematography, acting, and storytelling. But this is "visionary" directing without vision.
(At least based on the trailer.)
posted by lewedswiver at 11:50 AM on December 20, 2021
I'd be pretty amused if Eggers made a by-the-numbers conventional bit of action fare, just to catch people off-guard.
Also would be satisfying if there's no more revenge-action than was in the trailer itself, and audiences are discombobulated by it turning out to be a historical romantic comedy.
posted by Drastic at 11:54 AM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Also would be satisfying if there's no more revenge-action than was in the trailer itself, and audiences are discombobulated by it turning out to be a historical romantic comedy.
posted by Drastic at 11:54 AM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
A Bridge Too Far (did it really have to have an "all-star cast"?)
Hey, if it hadn't been an all-star cast you'd have missed out on the incredibly convincing portrayal of badass Polish general Stanislaw Sosabowski by Gene Hackman (@ 2:50), with what the Guardian calls "an accent foundering somewhere between vampire and pirate." Roger Ebert said Hackman "turns in a performance that looks as if it's trying to hide underneath itself."
Dirk Bogarde, who played British general Frederick Browning, served on the Western Front and was involved in Operation Market-Garden, "though his memoirs imply that he spent most of September 1944 'liberating' champagne from local wine cellars and avoiding the advances of an amorous, eccentric major-general known as 'Uncle.'"
posted by kirkaracha at 11:54 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
Hey, if it hadn't been an all-star cast you'd have missed out on the incredibly convincing portrayal of badass Polish general Stanislaw Sosabowski by Gene Hackman (@ 2:50), with what the Guardian calls "an accent foundering somewhere between vampire and pirate." Roger Ebert said Hackman "turns in a performance that looks as if it's trying to hide underneath itself."
Dirk Bogarde, who played British general Frederick Browning, served on the Western Front and was involved in Operation Market-Garden, "though his memoirs imply that he spent most of September 1944 'liberating' champagne from local wine cellars and avoiding the advances of an amorous, eccentric major-general known as 'Uncle.'"
posted by kirkaracha at 11:54 AM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
AVENGE FATHER
SAVE MOTHER
KILL FJOLLNIR
AVENGE MOTHER
KILL...no, wait...
SAVE...
Ugh—You know that thing where you say a word over and over again and it starts to sound like a bunch of nonsense syllables? I hate that! Revenge...no...Save fa...OK,, I'm just going to have to pick this up tomorrow.
posted by PlusDistance at 12:15 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
SAVE MOTHER
KILL FJOLLNIR
AVENGE MOTHER
KILL...no, wait...
SAVE...
Ugh—You know that thing where you say a word over and over again and it starts to sound like a bunch of nonsense syllables? I hate that! Revenge...no...Save fa...OK,, I'm just going to have to pick this up tomorrow.
posted by PlusDistance at 12:15 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Alexander Skarsgard's character in True Blood was named Eric Northman, so if he doesn't get turned into a vampire in this I'll be pretty disappointed.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:26 PM on December 20, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:26 PM on December 20, 2021 [8 favorites]
if it's just a swords and revenge film, it's not going to get my ticket sale
but the guy got shot with an arrow! right in the trailer!
posted by thelonius at 12:28 PM on December 20, 2021
but the guy got shot with an arrow! right in the trailer!
posted by thelonius at 12:28 PM on December 20, 2021
Right in the trailer ? Sounds less painful than right in the shoulder.
posted by Pendragon at 12:30 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 12:30 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
I would totally watch a movie where Björk wreaks full Scandi-level vengeance upon Lars von Trier.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:32 PM on December 20, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:32 PM on December 20, 2021 [15 favorites]
Right in the trailer ? Sounds less painful than right in the shoulder.
I used to be quite a Northman until I took a trailer in the knee...
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 12:39 PM on December 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
I used to be quite a Northman until I took a trailer in the knee...
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 12:39 PM on December 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
METAFILTER: (At least based on the trailer.)
posted by philip-random at 12:43 PM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 12:43 PM on December 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
Just a few years ago in Big Little Lies, Nicole Kidman (b. 1967) played Alexander Skarsgard's (b. 1976) wife. Now, Kidman is his mother, and I'm assuming Anya Taylor-Joy (b. 1996) will end up his love interest.
posted by gladly at 12:44 PM on December 20, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by gladly at 12:44 PM on December 20, 2021 [10 favorites]
At the end of this video, there was a link to the trailer for Downton Abbey. Now I'm trying to imagine a mash-up.
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 12:57 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 12:57 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
All the foibles and manners of Downton crossed with the costumes, sets, and production design of GoT. 👍🏼
posted by migurski at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2021
posted by migurski at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2021
Now if we could get this kind of production value in an adaptation of Gisli's Saga, then we'd be talking. Or Grettir's Saga -- I'd risk a theater mid-next-year for a good Grettir.
posted by Quasirandom at 1:24 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Quasirandom at 1:24 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
@migurski: I think it might be better if a nattily dressed Lord Swillington asks for a cup of tea and Lady Grimsdottir lets out an unearthly wail before seven navvies kick down the door, disembowel a random butler and daintily pour him a proper cuppa. In glorious slo-no.
All set to the music of Danheim’s Valravn. Now that’s entertainment! I’d buy that for a dollar!
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 1:45 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
All set to the music of Danheim’s Valravn. Now that’s entertainment! I’d buy that for a dollar!
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 1:45 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Right in the trailer ? Sounds less painful than right in the shoulder.
Depends on where on your trailer it hits you innit?
posted by kirkaracha at 2:06 PM on December 20, 2021
Depends on where on your trailer it hits you innit?
posted by kirkaracha at 2:06 PM on December 20, 2021
I was guessing there must be someone out there with a "Downton Julie Brown" act, but it looks like it's just a gag that Patton Oswalt beat me to.
posted by thelonius at 2:11 PM on December 20, 2021
posted by thelonius at 2:11 PM on December 20, 2021
I swear to Odin, someone better take an arrow to the knee.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 2:20 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 2:20 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Nicole Kidman is here on this earth only to remind me of exactly how badly I'm aging, since she and I are essentially exactly the same age, or at least were brought into existence at the same time.
posted by maxwelton at 2:47 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 2:47 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
From the phrasing of the post title, I assumed Matthew Perry was going to be in this.
Checking the cast list on Wikipedia, I am only slightly disappointed that Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gary Oldman don't have bit parts....
"But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood...."
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 2:56 PM on December 20, 2021
Checking the cast list on Wikipedia, I am only slightly disappointed that Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gary Oldman don't have bit parts....
"But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood...."
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 2:56 PM on December 20, 2021
This looks kick ass; I'm all in. Always delighted for some unhinged Dafoe. I'm sure he has the range to do it, but I don't ever really want to see that wonderful fellow hinged.
posted by EatTheWeek at 3:49 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by EatTheWeek at 3:49 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
I miss Vikings.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:03 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by oneirodynia at 4:03 PM on December 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Goddammit, Metafilter. Now that someone made an Eric the Viking reference, I’m doomed to think one thing when the first Norseman dies, “Oh no, it was Lief the Lucky!”
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:36 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:36 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Well, I for one want to see this. Though I am pretty sick and tired of Viking stuff. Eggers movies are catnip for me.
Dafoe's long, loud and intense rant in "The Lighthouse" had me grinning ear to ear, while being frightened and cringing at the same time. That made the whole movie.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:06 PM on December 20, 2021
Dafoe's long, loud and intense rant in "The Lighthouse" had me grinning ear to ear, while being frightened and cringing at the same time. That made the whole movie.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:06 PM on December 20, 2021
What a remarkably shouty trailer.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:22 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:22 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
This looks like a lot of cliches about the middle ages and the Vikings.
Someday someone will make a movie or show that actually leans into what archaeologists and historians have determined about Viking clothing: they liked brightly-colored clothing, including long pants with multi-colored stripes.
I think it will be hard to do the whole ARRGH REVENGE plot if you're wearing blue-and-yellow striped trousers. I'm just saying.
posted by suelac at 6:37 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
Someday someone will make a movie or show that actually leans into what archaeologists and historians have determined about Viking clothing: they liked brightly-colored clothing, including long pants with multi-colored stripes.
I think it will be hard to do the whole ARRGH REVENGE plot if you're wearing blue-and-yellow striped trousers. I'm just saying.
posted by suelac at 6:37 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
Is it just me, or does it seem like this movie is copying from that ancient English classic, The Lion King?
So, Willem Dafoe appears to be Rafiki. I'm feeling Björk is probably more of a Timon than a Pumbaa, but we will see.
posted by judgement day at 7:27 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
So, Willem Dafoe appears to be Rafiki. I'm feeling Björk is probably more of a Timon than a Pumbaa, but we will see.
posted by judgement day at 7:27 PM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Someday someone will make a movie or show that actually leans into what archaeologists and historians have determined about Viking clothing: they liked brightly-colored clothing, including long pants with multi-colored stripes.
Yes, this, unironically. You may like the new book The Bright Ages…
What always makes me chuckle about movies like this - hyper-macho, so intent on showing how tough and gritty and raw and anti-modern they are - is how utterly ahistorical they are. The depiction of the medieval era as the dark ages (the literal dark ages!) is a product and invention of the same modern artsy fartsy mind that movies like this abhor.
posted by lewedswiver at 7:52 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
Yes, this, unironically. You may like the new book The Bright Ages…
What always makes me chuckle about movies like this - hyper-macho, so intent on showing how tough and gritty and raw and anti-modern they are - is how utterly ahistorical they are. The depiction of the medieval era as the dark ages (the literal dark ages!) is a product and invention of the same modern artsy fartsy mind that movies like this abhor.
posted by lewedswiver at 7:52 PM on December 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
I've seen The VVitch but haven's seen The Lighthouse yet. This looks like a real departure from those movies. Very heightened and action-packed. If I had seen just the trailer I never would've guessed it was directed by Robert Eggers.
posted by zardoz at 12:09 AM on December 21, 2021
posted by zardoz at 12:09 AM on December 21, 2021
Eggers himself has admitted that he only knows how to make worlds through meticulous research and recreation. That's what he spends his time on and then places his characters and events into the world. The amount of period accurate detail in The Witch and Lighthouse is incredible and I'd be shocked if that's not the case here as well. His movies also tend to explore the myths, legends and superstitions of the times they are set, so it's an interesting combination of accurate research mixed with fantasy. This looks to follow that pattern.
This trailer looks more traditional, but it also looks like the biggest budget he's had so I wouldn't be surprised if the trailer is selling a different movie.
Regardless, he's two for two as far as I'm concerned and I'll be there for this, Day 1.
posted by slimepuppy at 1:08 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
This trailer looks more traditional, but it also looks like the biggest budget he's had so I wouldn't be surprised if the trailer is selling a different movie.
Regardless, he's two for two as far as I'm concerned and I'll be there for this, Day 1.
posted by slimepuppy at 1:08 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
It had a volcano and a burning long house! All it further needs for that full Saga feel is something related to weaving and maaaaybee a fatal brawl over harvesting a dead whale. A spray of whey from a failed ax blow to the back would be a deep cut… just saying this in combination with the 13th Warrior would be one hell of a finals question.
posted by jadepearl at 2:11 AM on December 21, 2021
posted by jadepearl at 2:11 AM on December 21, 2021
the same modern artsy fartsy mind that movies like this abhor
I think you're arguing facts that are not in evidence, here.
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:01 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think you're arguing facts that are not in evidence, here.
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:01 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I mean, you could just watch Hrafninn Flýgur for all your Viking revenge needs.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:50 AM on December 21, 2021
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:50 AM on December 21, 2021
to do:
avenge father
save mother
kill Fjölnir
rake in the lake
posted by ckape at 4:58 AM on December 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
avenge father
save mother
kill Fjölnir
rake in the lake
posted by ckape at 4:58 AM on December 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
I think it will be hard to do the whole ARRGH REVENGE plot if you're wearing blue-and-yellow striped trousers. I'm just saying.
One of my pandemic joys has been watching Nerdforge which is out of Norway. In each video Martina will make some sort of fantasy diorama, resin casting, or mural and at some point in the video they'll usually do a montage or a timelapse set to EPIC FANTASY MUSIC and I can't help but think it would be really awesome if someone would make a movie about badass vikings who must struggle to finish their art project and then endure an epic journey to enter it into the All-Scandinavian Maker Fair.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:15 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
One of my pandemic joys has been watching Nerdforge which is out of Norway. In each video Martina will make some sort of fantasy diorama, resin casting, or mural and at some point in the video they'll usually do a montage or a timelapse set to EPIC FANTASY MUSIC and I can't help but think it would be really awesome if someone would make a movie about badass vikings who must struggle to finish their art project and then endure an epic journey to enter it into the All-Scandinavian Maker Fair.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:15 AM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'd be pretty amused if Eggers made a by-the-numbers conventional bit of action fare, just to catch people off-guard.
Counterpoint: Duncan Jones' third movie was a World of Warcraft tie-in that seems to have been quickly forgotten. and Ben Wheatley is attached to the next Tomb Raider movie or something like that. Sometimes a big ol' pile of money and getting to play with the hollywood toy box is just nice.
Self-counterpoint: the script is by Eggers and this interesting sounding Icelander.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:11 AM on December 21, 2021
Counterpoint: Duncan Jones' third movie was a World of Warcraft tie-in that seems to have been quickly forgotten. and Ben Wheatley is attached to the next Tomb Raider movie or something like that. Sometimes a big ol' pile of money and getting to play with the hollywood toy box is just nice.
Self-counterpoint: the script is by Eggers and this interesting sounding Icelander.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:11 AM on December 21, 2021
I prefer not having big names like Kidman and Hawke in these films. It kinda colors the mood for me and lessens the mystery. Dafoe is fine but it starts to feel like "Hollywood dress up time" when the other big stars come in.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:47 AM on December 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:47 AM on December 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
Myself, I'm amazed at the level of sophistication that Viking cosmetic surgery had reached. Because Nicole Kidman is looking like Anya Taylor-Joy's older sister.
All kidding aside: Is she ever going to try to look her age, or can we look forward to some Death Becomes Her hellscape for the rest of her career in films?
posted by the sobsister at 10:32 AM on December 21, 2021
All kidding aside: Is she ever going to try to look her age, or can we look forward to some Death Becomes Her hellscape for the rest of her career in films?
posted by the sobsister at 10:32 AM on December 21, 2021
Well,when Vogue did 73 Questions with Kidman, she was flying around an alpaca farm. Maybe alpaca energy keeps her young, like Dorian Gray, but with wool production.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:40 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:40 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Re: movie theaters, yeah being crammed into a room with dozens of strangers feels like a Bad Idea right now. But many theaters offer exclusive rentals. Rent an entire showing for your group, and have the theater to yourselves. One of our friends did this for the recent DUNE movie. Beautiful stadium-seat theater, gigantic screen, and there were like... 15 of us? Maybe? It was glorious. Only way I can imagine going to see a movie for the foreseeable future.
posted by xedrik at 2:07 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by xedrik at 2:07 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Vogue did 73 Questions with Kidman
TIL AC/DC are affectionately known as "acca dacca" in Austrialia.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:14 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
TIL AC/DC are affectionately known as "acca dacca" in Austrialia.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:14 PM on December 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
This looks so awful-- the wigs, the accents, Nicole Kidman's plastic surgery face. I loved The VVitch though and I've been meaning to watch The Lighthouse.
posted by coffeeand at 7:44 AM on December 22, 2021
posted by coffeeand at 7:44 AM on December 22, 2021
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posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:59 AM on December 20, 2021 [1 favorite]