Big, big, big, big ideas – This is what moves me

Within a tiny droplet of water, there can be an entire ecosystem teeming with life.  The space between two people who get up and go to work and try to find happiness and comfort and fulfillment can be more complicated and multi-faceted than any diamond.  No number of special effects explosions in countless summer blockbusters can equal the poignancy of a moving conversation or a close-up of a human face looking right into the eyes.

Two movie trailers have come my way this morning and they both appear to embody a fearless approach to narrative that pushes my buttons.  Why not make movies that embrace the questions of existence, life and death, why we’re here and what it’s all about?  Why not tackle the most horrifying and unknowable issues that are present for every sentient being?

The first of these comes from a blog called This is Who We Are. It’s devoted to the television program Millenium and the extraordinary and unique talents of that show’s star Lance Henricksen.  He stars in The Penitent Man:

There is a spoiler video of of about 8 minutes, but since it appears this small project will see the dark of moviehouses, I will take my chance and wait.

The next trailer is for a Brazilian film Nosso Lar, and comes to me from the wonderful sci-fi/post-apocalyptic genre website Quiet Earth.  Talk about big ideas, this one goes right after death and the afterlife.  I’ll happy read subtitles for an hour or two if I can get an opportunity to see this:

There is certainly a time for fart-gags and explosions.  There is a time for the Bourne Identity and Inglorious Basterds and romantic comedies and Gladiator.  These are all good things.  But sometimes, you gotta chuck it all out the window.  Sometimes you SHOULD take yourself too seriously.  Sometimes you’ve got to shoot for beyond the moon and beyond convention.  Maybe, just maybe, that is the space that these two films will occupy