The Catch-Up: Severance, Bel-Air, Marry Me, and Hatching

Mid-winter isn’t usually the busiest period on the annual trailer release schedule, with holiday releases lingering and the potential summer blockbusters on standby. Trailers seems to take a back seat to the awards ceremonies for the prior year. However, there is nonetheless a fair amount still underway, thanks in part to the steady drip of new content for streaming services. Here’s our latest roundup of recent trailers that caught our ears.

Severance

Serverance stars Adam Scott as Mark Scout, a near-future office worker who willingly undergoes a procedure to artificially separate his work life and home life—he can only recall his memories of each respective location when he is there. The retro-futuristic aesthetics are not unlike those experienced in Spike Jonze’s Her (2013).

After a perfunctory five-second teasing preview, the first thirty seconds or so offers a spare sonic backdrop, with ticks and chimes vaguely attuned to the aforementioned aesthetic: for example, we get the sound of a drink opening (0:38) or the sound of a picture being taken (notice also the decidedly old-school rangefinger camera), and so on. In addition, rhythmically aligned sound of a heart monitor adds tension to the soundscape and reinforces Scout’s narration. High-pitched strings seep in; finally, at 0:59 we hear a sudden cadence that leads into I Monster’s 2003 track “Daydream In Blue”. While a decidedly more obscure pick, it was probably chosen more for its thematic content (with lyrics such as “it’s a beautiful day”—ironically, in the sense that ignorance is bliss). Moreover, with its blend of strings and synths the instrumentation matches well with the sparse sci-fi interiors of Scout’s workplace. Serverance is out February 18th on Apple TV+.

Bel-Air

This re-imagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air illustrates how important musical choices are in setting a tone: while the theme song of the Will Smith original is emblematic, this grittier reboot emphatically—daringly, perhaps—rejects that heritage entirely, instead opting for Nas’ “Made You Look” (2002)—it works thematically, with lyrics such as “I’m king of the town”, alluding of course to Will’s quasi-regal status as the Fresh Prince—acknowledging iit n a lateral, subtle way. The instrumental arrangement also allows for much room for dialogue, as is appropriate for a dramatic trailer. Bel-Air premieres February 13th on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.

Marry Me

Furthering a noticeable trend towards musical biopics of various kinds, Marry Me takes things a step further: it’s a collaboration between Jennifer Lopez and Maluma as both an original album of songs and an accompanying musical film, but through the fictional characters Kat Valdez and Bastian. As Lopez explained to Rolling Stone, it’s her first go around making an album for a film (and possibly not the last). This is notably different from other forms of musical films in the sense that it’s not based on any pre-existing music; nor is it even used as an ancillary vehicle for a new project under the name of a well-known artist, or as a companion piece (such as with one of Beyonce’s visual albums). Instead, Lopez and Maluma commit to imagining a holistic project of music and cinema; it will be interesting to see whether anyone follows suit. Marry Me is due in theatres February 11th.

Hatching

Arriving stateside through IFC Films, this Finnish horror film (based on an old folktale) uses a variety of techniques to sustain attention and elicit fear. Foremost is the acousmêtre (from Michel Chion, the off-screen voice). The film falls in line with other recent Nordic movies that have featured ordinary animals in horror-inducing contexts like _Lamb. _We seldom see the large, crow-like creature that the girl appears to adopt, but its voice is pervasive. A minor jump scare at 0:23 leads to the single piano key motif, cleverly segueing into a creepy rendition of “Hush, Little Baby”—alluding of course to the mockingbird in the song. It’s a choice that arguably works worldwide, but perhaps especially for this US localization. Notice also some synch points at 0:56 (with the egg against the bowl—again, a visual allusion to the bird) and 0:58—everyday sounds dramatized to emulate the sensation of being on edge, which effectively conveys the girl’s apparent detachment from her family. The piano continues to serve as an effective counterpoint to increasingly horrific sounds and imagery throughout. Hatching arrives in theatres April 29th.

These are just a few of the latest trailers we found particularly interesting in their use of music and sound. Stay tuned: the Super Bowl trailers are just around the corner.

— Curtis Perry