As you may have noticed over the past few days, a lot of the film news is coming out of the American Film Market, where numerous people are trying to find financing and distribution for upcoming projects. It’s also a place where the first artwork for movies often appears, and that’s the case with both The Beaver and The Tree Of Life, which have debuted posters at the event.
To be honest, with the Jodie Foster directed The Beaver, you’d have thought they might have tried to hide the fact it stars Mel Gibson, due to him not exactly being the world’s most popular person at the moment, but he’s on the poster, even if he is trying to hide behind a puppet. The movie is about a man called Walter, the depressed CEO of a failing toy company, who is given a glove puppet named The Beaver by his therapist. He begins to wear the puppet at all times and it becomes his main way of communicating with the world. Many have suggested that with Mel persona non grata at the moment, it’ll have difficulty getting released, but it’s in the can and so they’re still trying to find someone to release it. Take a look at the poster below, and underneath that is the one for Terence Malick’s The Tree Of Life.
(Image via ComingSoon)
Terence Malick isn’t known for being very open about his movies, and this poster if just about as oblique as it’s possible to get. However, while it’s been a bit of a mystery what the movie is about, despite it having finished shooting months ago with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn starring, an extended synopsis, written by Malick, has been released at the AFM, so take a look at the poster below and the synopsis is underneath that. No UK release date is yet set, but it hits the US next May.
(Image via Collider)
‘From the Desk of Terrence Malick .
We trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, JACK, one of three brothers. At first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the worlds way of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth.
From this story is that of adult Jack, a lost soul in a modern world, seeking to discover amid the changing scenes of time that which does not change: the eternal scheme of which we are a part. When he sees all that has gone into our worlds preparation, each thing appears a miracleprecious, incomparable. Jack, with his new understanding, is able to forgive his father and take his first steps on the path of life.
The story ends in hope, acknowledging the beauty and joy in all things, in the everyday and above all in the familyour first schoolthe only place that most of us learn the truth about the world and ourselves, or discover lifes single most important lesson, of unselfish love.’