TRAILERS

Mark Rylance & Johnny Depp in Trailer for 'Waiting for the Barbarians'

by Alex Billington
June 24, 2020
Source: YouTube

"This is their land - they know every inch of it, you do not." Samuel Goldwyn Films has unveiled the first official trailer for Waiting for the Barbarians, which initially premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year (and at the Zurich & London Film Festivals). The film marks the first English-language feature made by acclaimed, award-winning Colombia filmmaker Ciro Guerra (of both Embrace of the Serpent and Birds of Passage). Adapted from a novel by J.M. Coetzee, the vague story is about a Magistrate working in a distant outpost who begins to question his loyalty to the "empire" when an asshole Colonel shows up demanding changes. It's a metaphorically vague story that represents colonialism and white men controlling the world. It was filmed in Morocco, but a location is never named. Mark Rylance stars as the Magistrate, along with Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Greta Scacchi, David Dencik, Sam Reid, and Bill Milner. I enjoyed this film, it's not the best, but there are a few outstanding performances at least.

Here's the first official trailer (+ posters) for Ciro Guerra's Waiting for the Barbarians, from YouTube:

The Magistrate (Mark Rylance) of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of Colonel Joll (Johnny Depp), whose task it is to report on the activities of the ‘barbarians’ and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations, which leads the Magistrate to question his loyalty to the empire. Waiting for the Barbarians is both written and directed by acclaimed Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra, his first English-language feature after directing the films Wandering Shadows, The Wind Journeys, Embrace of the Serpent, and Birds of Passage previously. Adapted from J.M. Coetzee's novel of the same name. This first premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Guerra's Waiting for the Barbarians direct-to-VOD starting on August 7th this summer. Your thoughts? Who wants to watch this?

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