Watch the brand new teaser trailer for The Invite below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela’s (Olivia Wilde) marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors, Pina (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down?

Starring ans directed by Wilde, and written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite is a cheeky, curious and cunning re-interpretation of Cesc Gay’s The People Upstairs, and while little is revealed in this brisk teaser trailer, the breadcrumbs are laid, and what were promised is a cinematic experience that will play with your emotions, and certainly get a reaction out of audiences, with plenty of hijinks and surprises guranteed to startle and shock promised by Wilde.

Having first screened for buyers and press at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, The Invite caused an immediate bidding war, and was dubbed a sensation, and after much back and forth, was acquiired by A24 Films, and having now seen this first teaser trailer, we can unecoiovacalluy confirm that this was a right decision.

 

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With it’s intriguing concept, top-notch cast, and surpise mix of feeling and suspense, The Invite is a piture audiences will be clamoruing to see when it arrives in cinemas this June.

Image: A24 Films

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It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz) built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley). Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.

Passion has long been a driving force in delivering Mann’s output, and he applies a direct measure of focus to realizing Ferrari, a project dedicated to the life and ambitions of Enzo Ferrari, which has been gestating for more than twenty years. Mann’s cumulative experience as a filmmaker is invested in this grand, operatic picture of the life and times of the great and controversial Ferrari, and the result is a dissection of man’s will to win at all costs. Mann’s Ferrari is a film set against the grand canvas of the 1957 Mille Miglia and Ferrari’s last chance to ensure greatness for his name. Ferrari’s narrative unfolds amidst a deeply personal dramatic battle of the failed relationship between Ferrari and his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz).

Cast in the lead role of the great Enzo Ferrari is Adam Driver, an actor who has quickly become one of the most sought-after talents working in the business today. And his on-screen intensity makes for a perfect match for Mann’s directorial wizardry in Ferrari. We find Driver’s Ferrari with his back against the wall and ready to make one final big bet to save his racing team and legacy, all while battling the demons of a failing marriage and a tragic loss. Within Driver’s Ferrari, you get the presence of a man who is brutal and to the point, a man who is always on the lookout to push the envelope further and faster and who will not settle for second place. But you also sense the immense guilt and anger inside him that only loss can bring to the surface, and all of it makes for a dominant presence on screen.

Playing opposite Driver is Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari, the now estranged wife to the celebrated racing emperor, and Cruz delivers a powerhouse performance that centres the entire production. Bitter, bereft and burnt out, Laura is stuck with the tragic loss of her son and her husband’s love, and their’s is an aggrieved and fraught relationship. She’s a woman of immense power and control but who, through tragic circumstances, is barely holding it together. Backed into a corner by her husband’s latest gamble, Laura is on the hook for Enzo’s last-ditch effort to save their fledgling company, and all of it makes for the most operatic of interpersonal dramas. Cruz completely disappears inside the character of Laura Ferrari and shares a dynamic chemistry of equal measures of love and hate with Driver’s Enzo, and it makes for a compelling watch.

The experience of Ferrari on the big screen thunders to life with the roar of a V12 engine. With his meticulous attention to detail, Mann places his audience right in the path of the exhilaration and danger of the Golden Age of motor racing, and it will leave your heart palpitating with adrenaline. Special applause must be directed towards Academy Award-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, who brings his trained eye to capture the thumping pulse of Ferrari, and he puts audiences right into the heart of the action, along with giving the film a unique Italian Neo-realism look of the classic Fellini vintage. Praise must also be heaped on sound mixer Angelo Bonanni, who brings to life vintage models such as the Ferrari 355 Ss, the 315 Ss, and the 801 F1s, all of which make an impact on screen. But the film’s thunderous third act and the violence, exhilaration and destruction of the Mille Miglia will throw you back in your seat with a euphoric rush.

To gaze upon Ferrari is to witness a piece of art in motion. Mann has spent much of the past decade basing himself in the historic city of Modena, and his love for the Italian way of life shines through in the finished picture. His Ferrari is not a standardized piece of Hollywood mass production but is instead a beautiful and lavish piece of art-house cinema, complete with a beating and furious pulse. Ferrari has all the trappings of a Renaissance artwork delivered by Mann at full speed, and it is an experience that will leave the audience in awe.

Michael Mann’s Ferrari is the culmination of a twenty-year obsession to present man’s obsession with speed and the pursuit of glory in pure artistic projection. Audiences will be drawn into its opulent narrative and leave feeling they’ve witnessed a grand work of art.

Image: Roadshow Films

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Two single women (Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit) meet in a hospital room where they are both going to give birth. One is a middle-aged, career woman named Janis (Cruz) and doesn’t regret it, while the other is adolescent Ana and scared. The two women form a strong bond with one another as they both confront motherhood.

As a filmmaker and storyteller, Pedro Almodóvar is one of the all-time greats and his original voice and desire to push the boundaries of genre and the art of cinema itself always leads to the promise of exceptional stories. Parallel Mothers is again another incredible work from a master storyteller, and audiences expecting one film are delivered another. Parallel Mothers is not at all what it seems at first glance and Almodóvar builds out an intriguing narrative with multiple frames of view that change and twist in the telling.

At once an intimate story of two women who meet at a new crossroads in their lives before turning into a sinister-edged thriller where questions of identity and possession also come into play. Dripping with Almodóvar’s trademark use of melodrama, Parallel Mothers is composed of many different emotions, from happiness to heartbreak, lightness to dread and bound by questions of the past, present and future. It’s a work of film that is unique and Almodóvar takes his time to deliver this story to his audience.

With Parallel Mothers, Almodóvar also reunites with long-time muse Penélope Cruz and this is Cruz as we have not seen her before. As a professional and glamourous photographer Janis Martínez Moreno, Cruz is a woman in command of her entire world, until a one-time tryst with hunky and suave archeologist Arturo (Israel Elejalde) results in a pregnancy and a different and new life. While some expect her to be bogged down as a mother, this is not the case here with Parallel Mothers and instead the twists and turns of Janis’ life happen in an all-together more sinister fashion.

With his handling of genre, Almodóvar paints Cruz in many different lights ranging from heroine to villain to victim to mother, and this changing development of her character seems very refreshing in a cinema landscape that very often paints characters as one dimensional. Janis is fully formed and ever-changing and Cruz holds the attention of the audience with her passion and intensity and her performance makes Parallel Mothers a wild ride.

Part of the intrigue of Parallel Mothers comes in the way that the narrative is expressed and presented and there’s so much intensity in the story that you can’t help but look away. As is his style Almodóvar does not allow his audience to figure his movie out, and it’s only in witnessing the entire narrative that you can truly experience the brilliance of the story. I for one enjoyed how he was able to move from a narrative that is sometimes completely wholesome before the next second later turning deadly sinister, and Parallel Mothers forces you as an audience member to keep your wits about you and to stay on your toes. It’s a film that original cinematic experience and storytelling are top-notch.

For those who are seeking something different and all-together, original Parallel Mothers ranks as one of the year’s best films. It’s the presentation of a director and an actress at the top of their game, and who trust each other and the material completely and the result is utterly incredible to look upon.

Image: Sony Pictures

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