How About That Trailer? - Silence

I don't doubt Martin Scorsese. If he wants to take decades to develop a historical drama that will likely just barely make back the money it cost to make, who cares, as long as the results are consistent with the legendary director's other work? Silence is finally going to see the light of day this Christmas and now we finally have a trailer. The results provide just the kind of setup I want for a film with such an intriguing story.

Silence stars Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as Portuguese Jesuit priests who head to Japan to locate their mentor played by Liam Neeson. Set in the 17th century, the priests will be facing violence and persecution, but hopefully get some support from their interpreter, played by Tadanobu Asano.

There is a lot of neat imagery present in this trailer, cut to some great music chords that ideally reflect the score for the film. Similar to other Scorsese pictures, Silence will once again be exploring the director's interest with religion, violence and outsiders. It also looks like a film that was tough to shoot. Shots of the actors looking ragged, let alone seeing men hanging on crosses in the ocean, just have the feel of a difficult situation, no matter what effects are in place. There have been many reports about the lengthy production, so ideally Scorsese got what he wanted out of his filmmaking team.

Of course, once again, I have no reason to doubt a master filmmaker such as Scorsese. At 74, the director has continually proven he is game to keep challenging himself and work with new trends in technology, despite his hold on familiar themes and other filmmaking choices. I'll also be plenty curious to see just how well Garfield and Driver hold up here. The two are strong performers, likely working with one of their filmmaking heroes, but this isn't a role to just walk into. Based on the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo, this is an intense story, which has the potential to really throw in some twists to 2016's awards season.

Silence will open in limited release on December 23, 2016. The film will spread wider in January.

Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) – at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden. The celebrated director’s 28-year journey to bring Shusaku Endo’s 1966 acclaimed novel to life will be in theaters this Christmas.