John Cameron Mitchell made a big splash with his first film as a director, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, which was adapted from his own queer rock musical. He followed that with the sexually explicit Shortbus and the Nicole Kidman starrer Rabbit Hole. That was eight years ago though, and he’s only just returning with an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story and graphic novel, How to Talk to Girls at Parties.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘From the raucous dual imaginations of fantasy laureate Neil Gaiman (“American Gods,” Coraline) and glam-rock multi-hyphenate John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus) comes the electrifying and singular pop extravaganza film, How to Talk to Girls at Parties. Enn (Alex Sharp) is a shy suburban London teenager in 1977, sneaking out with his best friends to after-hours punk parties.

‘One night they stumble upon a bizarre gathering of sexy teenagers who seem like they are from another planet. In fact, they are from another planet, visiting Earth to complete a mysterious rite of passage. That doesn’t stop Enn from falling madly in love with Zan (Elle Fanning), a beautiful and rebellious alien teenager who, despite her allegiance to her strange colony, is fascinated by Enn. Together they embark on a delirious adventure through the kinetic punk rock world of 1970s London, inadvertently setting off a series of events that will lead to the ultimate showdown of punks vs. aliens, and test the limits of how far each of them will go for true love.’

The movie will be released in the UK in May. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]