I admit I’m disproportionately swayed by sweaty people with dirty faces, giant clouds of red dirt, and a tone of overall bleakness (see also: Mad Max, The Rover), but this trailer for Strangerland, starring Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, and Hugo Weaving, pushed all my buttons. Looking like a sort of cross between Enemy and Killer Joe set in Australia, Kidman and Fiennes play a couple whose jailbait daughter (Maddison Brown) disappears from a remote town on the eve of a massive dust storm. Yes, you have my attention.
Locals including a detective (Hugo Weaving) join the increasingly desperate search amid rising temperatures and fleeting hopes. The couple finds their relationship teetering on edge as panic and uncertainty grow.
Lisa Flanagan, Meyne Wyatt, Maddison Brown and Nicholas Hamilton co-star in the Australia-Ireland co-production from rookie director Kim Farrant. [Deadline]
Strangerland opens July 10th in limited release and VOD simultaneously. Not to throw cold water on the fire I just started, but it’s currently sporting a 0% on RottenTomatoes (after only five reviews) coming out of Sundance. But who knows, maybe they added some velociraptors and dongs going in since then. That always works.