Terrence Malick’s movie “Song to Song” dropped its first trailer Feb. 17. The movie should be delightfully weird at the very least and a 2018 Oscar contender at best thanks to both its ridiculously stacked cast — Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Ryan Gosling, Ryan Gosling’s wannabe New York accent and its timely premise — and people singing in a quirky city. If the trailer — a micro-cinematic masterpiece — is any indication, the movie will be fantastic.
First, the trailer features Gosling singing. America first heard the superstar sing for the Mickey Mouse Club and, subsequently, granted him a superstar acting future in Hollywood. He sang again in “Blue Valentine,” and a thousand hipster boyfriends began furiously teaching themselves the ukulele and growing angsty facial hair. Singing for his third time ever in “La La Land,” Gosling made audiences collectively lose their minds.
Playing opposite to the golden-boy Gosling is Fassbender. If there was one positive thing from the generally ill-advised new X-Men franchise, it’s Fassbender’s performance as a first-tier bad guy. He’s got terrifyingly dead shark eyes and a wolfish grin, and he can put on a delightfully chilly faint Irish accent. If Fassbender wasn’t so intent on being a movie star, one can only imagine what a brilliant villain he might make in any number of roles.
The “Song to Song” trailer provides yet another tantalizing glimpse into the evil Fassbender alternate timeline. Fassbender seduces Portman’s waitress character with irrepressibly charming smarminess and later tries to steal Gosling’s girl. Only Fassbender could believe someone who wants to steal Gosling’s girlfriend — let alone someone who could actually pull it off.
The phenomenal cast is augmented by Malick’s virtuosic camera work. Admittedly, most of the shots seen in the trailer look to be standard vanilla movie trailer fare — meant to placate the lowest common denominator of potential ticket buyers. However, there is one moment which hints at the off-kilter camera work Malick is known for. Twenty-six seconds into the trailer, during a montage of Gosling and Rooney Mara doing a variety of cutesy couple things, Malick ambushes the viewer with a jarring twist — flinging from one face to another in a live-action version of the iPhone panoramic camera setting. It’s unclear how Malick managed this, but it’s clever.
If the trailer is any indication, the movie itself will be equally excellent. “Song to Song” will be widely released in theaters across America March 17.
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