A new clip for the Sean Penn music flick This Must Be The Place just emoed its way onto my desk, and as much as I typically force myself to hate sad men wearing makeup on principal, I cannot deny there’s something intrinsically awesome about the actor dolled up to look like the sixth member of the Cure. Part music video, part footage of people watching a music video, the new material has a very lonely, almost Magnolia-vibe.
This Must Be The Place follows Penn’s character, once a famous rock star, who travels to New York to see his dying father. Unfortunately, he shows up a little too late but is shocked to learn just how much his dad suffered as a young man in the concentration camps. Pissed off, bored and alone, he decides to set things right by revenging the mistreatment his dad suffered at the hands of a Nazi guard now in hiding. Paolo Sorrentino, the mind behind Il Divo, directed, and the film will receive its official debut next month at Cannes. Check out the clip below…
There’s two different ways to do clips like the one above. You either show a lot of footage to give viewers a clear reason to check it out, or you exist in the margins, telling little but evoking the feel you’re trying to convey. The aforementioned clip most clearly falls into the latter category, and after having seen it, the decision seems to have been the correct one.
Just how wide of a release This Must Be The Place might get probably won’t be determined until its reception at Cannes indicates whether it could get Oscar consideration, but regardless of what happens, we should get a more conventional trailer within the next few months. Until then, fire this teaser up again and get excited.
