In the hands of anyone else, a movie about the birth of a technological innovation that reshaped culture may seem like a simple knockoff of The Social Network or Steve Jobs. However, under the uniquely humorous lens of Canadian director Matt Johnson, behind The Dirties and Operation Avalanche, his latest film BlackBerry piqued our interest. After stops at Berlinale and SXSW, the film starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, and Johnson––in the story of the men that charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone––will now arrive this May. Ahead of the release, the first trailer has landed.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Johnson, who also stars as the amiable Fregin opposite Jay Baruchel’s introverted Lazaridis, is the Canadian director behind Operation Avalanche––a film that seamlessly blended documentary aesthetics with newsreel footage to tell the story of how the CIA (and not quite Stanley Kubrick) maybe faked the moon landing. Cosmetically, BlackBerry’s mise-en-scène isn’t a million miles off it: the camerawork is nicely fidgety and handheld, and events depicted are primarily based on reality––as is the TV footage, though this time Johnson stays closer to the facts.”
See the trailer below.
BlackBerry opens on May 12.