You may not have heard the name Steven Ellison, but we’re betting you’re familiar with Flying Lotus. In the past few years, Ellison’s music persona has been one of the most influential in the world of hip-hop, electronica, and whatever other genre he’s interested in at the moment. Following his short film Royal, he’s now made his feature directorial debut with the highly-anticipated Kuso, which follows the survivors after Los Angeles’ worst earthquake.
Ahead of the Sundance Film Festival premiere, the first trailer has now arrived, and it hopefully they are giving out hallucinogens with each ticket. Promising to be psychedelic fever dream, this will certainly be the trippiest film at the festival as we see a mish-mash of wild footage. Featuring quite the ensemble and soundtrack, check out the trailer below (via Deadline) along with the poster.
Broadcasted through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, this story is tangled up in the aftermath of Los Angeles’s worst earthquake nightmare. Travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived.
Welcome to the weird and wild mind of filmmaker Steven Ellison. Already acclaimed for his expansive psychedelic albums as musician Flying Lotus, Ellison steps behind the camera to direct this mind-altering freakshow of a first feature, co-written with David Firth and Zach Fox. Their unbridled imaginations plunge the audience into a magical mix of filth-covered fables and hypnotic animations to reveal a film rotting from the inside out. This outrageous fever dream counts influences all the way from David Cronenberg to The Ren & Stimpy Show and features performances from comedians Hannibal Buress and Tim Heidecker. From its jaw-dropping imagery to its stomach-churning special effects, Kuso is the kind of film you’ll never be able to un-see.
Kuso premieres at Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, January 21.