After his last film, the ambitious Mr. Nobody, unfortunately seemed to fly under the radar of many, barely getting a release here in the United States, thankfully more attention is being paid to Jaco Van Dormael‘s follow-up The Brand New Testament. Although it’s still seeing U.S. distribution, it recently made the Best Foreign Oscar shortlist of just nine films, and now we have a new trailer.
We said in our positive review, “If you were to take the charm and playful visual language of Jean-Pierre Jenuet’s Amelie and pair it with a blistering satire of religious dogma, the end result would look something like The Brand New Testament, a new film from Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael. His previous feature, Mr. Nobody, starring Jared Leto as the last living human on Earth, also showcased a penchant for high concepts that veer towards the absurd rather than the literal. With his latest entry, Dormael is gunning for the big guy himself, God, portraying Him less as an all-powerful deity and more like an irritable grumpy man hellbent on making life miserable for us petty humans. In bringing life to these religious icons, he weaves a rich tapestry of conflicted characters whose unique problems become fodder for a truly holy upheaval of all that we know to be real.”
With a cast featuring Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve, Yolande Moreau, François Damiens and Pili Groyne, check out the new trailer and poster below.
God exists!
He lives in Brussels. He’s a real bastard, odious with his wife and daughter. We know a lot about his son, but very little about his daughter. Her name is Ea and she’s ten years old. One day, she revolts against her father, hacks his computer and leaks to the entire world their inevitable date of death by SMS…
The Brand New Testament will hopefully be released in 2016, pending U.S. distribution.