Next month Angelina Jolie will unleash her directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, into theaters, giving us a chance to see if she's got what it takes behind the camera. Jolie also wrote the screenplay for the film, which is set during the Bosnian Civil War during the 1990s. We've already seen a promising trailer for the film, and now FilmDistrict has released a new poster and a couple of new images to help promote the film. Check them out below, then we'll talk more.
I have to give props to whoever designed the poster. It avoids the "giant floating heads" or "cast lined up" tropes Hollywood loves oh-so-much, and uses a fairly simple design to convey a lot. The nice thing is, it works whether you notice the faces in the blood or not. The second shot shows star Zana Marjanovic, who plays Alja, one of the film's two leads. The last shot is, of course, Angelina in full director mode.
In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the story of a Serbian soldier named Danijel who falls in love with a Bosnian Muslim woman named Alja under the worst possible circumstances -- in the midst of war between their two factions and with her as his prisoner. With a planned December 23rd release date, it's still arriving in time for Oscar consideration, assuming Jolie proves to have any writing/directing chops. With a story of forbidden love set against a war-torn backdrop, it certainly has the faint whiff of Oscar bait about it.
