This Week In Trailers: Fursonas, The Fits, A Monster With A Thousand Heads, Ma Ma, The Wanting Mare

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we delve deep into the furry community, try and find something uplifting over a woman dying from breast cancer, admire a girl who's learning how to jab, hook, and shake, get some violent medical attention, and explore a world you can help make happen. Fursonas Trailer

"You keep using that word...I don't think it means what you think it means."

What director Dominic Rodriguez does with this trailer is a little bit inspired. Instead of completely disarming and divesting the lot of us with a completely reasonable and straightforward definition of what a "Furry" is we get to stay on this road of uncertainty about not knowing what exactly to make of these individuals who dress up like anthropomorphized creatures not of this dimension. They seem to be expressing some part of themselves which can only be realized through this kind of role play. Which, as someone who has been attending Comic-Con for the last 12 years can attest to, it's completely A-OK in my book. Freak flag fly, all of that jazz, man. But, what I'm utterly fascinated with is when we get inside the quieter moments with these people to get down into what pleasure this brings them. This seems a little edgier than Trekkies, but I'm hoping it treads the same territory, not making these adults a sideshow, making them relatable.

ma ma Trailer

There's no way this ends well.

What I see in director Julio Medem's (Sex and Lucia) latest is something so very sad and depressing but there's no denying that instead of making things look completely grim we are escorted down a path where we can find something beautiful in the carnage that breast cancer wreaks as it looks to destroy that same beauty. The trailer borders on making things slightly treacly but the shots from within the womb is all I need to see in order to get enthused that this is not just going to be about one woman's life affirming journey to make the best out of a horrendous situation but that there's something that can come out of misery, something beautiful.

The Fits Trailer

I love this.

When you have a minute and a half to make a trailer to sell your movie, what bigger role of the marketing dice can you make where there isn't one shred of narrative provided, save that for what we can infer? Director Anna Rose Holmer does something bold in introducing us into a world where there is no context and nothing to hold onto or do but be dialed in to the performance of of our young protagonist. The beat, the staccato of the silence that punctuates moments that are provided without context, it all gels wonderfully into an amalgam that takes us right through the pull-quotes that heap praise on this film but carry us all the way to the end. Who is this girl and what does she want out of life? I can't wait to find out.

A Monster with a Thousand Heads Trailer

It's so movie of the week territory but I dig it.

Director Rodrigo Plá takes what should be something that is really high concept and turns it into something that looks/feels like pure entertainment. Back when Falling Down wasn't just a nutty film about a guy who has a bad day, there would come a day when it would mean something more and talk about something more than just one man's frustration with the world, it was about our collective frustration. So, too, here we see one woman's frustration with the healthcare system taken to an extreme that, while it seems completely unfathomable, it is getting to the heart of some social problems that do exist in some parts of the world. I can think of it happening here but this story looks like it's going down some dark paths and I'd like to see how it thinks it's going out on the other wise.

The Wanting Mare Trailer

No idea what this is about.

Director Nicholas Bateman seems like an ambitious guy. He's wanting to make a movie that has a real cinematic/animation hybrid and I couldn't be more for what he wants to make a reality. I see many films that need a little fiscal push to get realized but there was just something about this trailer that made me slow down a bit and just soak in his sensibility. I don't know if it's going to get anywhere but it's nice to know there are still people who have their way of seeing a story and wanting to have it done the way they believe it should be. If you'd like to know more, here's the link: https://igg.me/at/thewantingmare/

Nota bene: If you have any suggestions of trailers to possibly be included in this column, even have a trailer of your own to pitch, please let me know by sending me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com or look me up via Twitter at @Stipp

In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week: