'Bout Time For Me To Get Low

(see the previous post for the introduction to the topic)

 I. Trailer One

The biggest difference between these two trailers (aside from the fact that one has onscreen text quoting critics' favorable reviews) is in genre. Sure, they're both promoting a nostalgic, historical piece, but the first trailer hints at the darker part of the story: what it was that made Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) into a hermit. The trailer opens with the dramatic image of a burning house, an image that is used later, in a quick montage of action shots set to minor-key suspense music. The burning house is conspicuously absent from the second trailer. The entire end of this first trailer slides into an ominous register--not the explicit suspense and scares of a horror movie trailer, but the sense that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Consider the beautifully creepy trees at 1:18, the underlying music that begins during the comic radio interview, the gunshot in the rain (1:30), the line "he has a way of making people do what he wants" (1:32), "nobody knows what he's capable of" (1:36), the mysterious glow on Bush's face in the mirror (1:39),and the frequent cuts that underscore Bill Murray's character's speech. All of these elements add up to a sense of the unknown underlying the festive party invoked early in the trailer; none of these elements are present in the second trailer.

II. Trailer Two

The second trailer is a trailer for a sentimental comedy. It opens, not with the burning house, but with Bill Murray's character speaking about death... which becomes the set up for a joke about his lackluster business. The line (and same sequence of shots from trailer one) "I want everybody to come who's got a story to tell about me" is underscored here by an upbeat fiddle tune, recasting Lucas Black's character's reaction to the gunshot as a moment of slapstick, rather than of violence. The tune ends on the reverse shot of Felix with his gun, and the moment of silence allows for genuine menace, but is immediately followed by Bill Murray's character's crack about Bush's speech (0:54). In the first trailer, this sequence was underscored by guitar slides from the same tune, not the fiddle portion. A minor change, but one that changes the emotional tenor of the (almost) exact same progression of shots.

The trailer then gives us two jokes ("fancy car for the dead" and "that is his smile") that are absent from the first trailer, further selling the comedy angle. The next sequence introduces Bush's relationship to Mattie (Sissy Spacek), following almost unchanged from trailer one. The new trailer ads only a few shots surrounding the line "we had a go" (1:22) and subtracts Mattie's lines and the attendant shots of Bush in his suit.

The real divergence in the two trailers occurs at the radio interview (1:19 in trailer one, 1:28 in trailer 2). Trailer 1 goes into the subtle creepiness detailed above. Trailer 2 devotes this time to a further exploration of Bush's relationship with Mattie. Rather than the suspenseful violins of the first trailer, the second one gives us a nostalgic vocal bluegrass number (starting at 1:36). The trailer ends with a few jokes during the suit fitting, and cuts to the ending titles.

III. Trailers & Favorites

I'm always impressed by trailers, and these two show very clearly how subtle changes in music and cutting, as well as shot choice, can determine the emotional tenor of a piece. The two have significant overlap in terms of shots used, and the shots that have been excised and added have been excised and added to differentiate between particular emotional responses to the trailers. That someone can do that so subtly and so well always impresses me, which is why I set out to write about these trailers in the first place.

As for my favorite? I was all set to say number two until I undertook this close reading. The jokiness of the ending really ruins number two for me. Up till the end, I enjoy the focus on Murray's character, the less-dramatic music, the lack of fast-cutting montage (overused in trailers these days), etc. I don't care about the text onscreen that much, but getting rid of the ending of trailer one (1:59) is a travesty.

"Bout time for me to get low." Though it does not help me at all understand what 'get low' means in this context, the image of the old man sitting alone in what appears to be a church, making this declarative statement is a powerful insight into Felix Bush. Much more powerful than learning that he doesn't wear underwear. This sort of deep, if brief and not entirely understood insight into the characters is exactly what a good trailer should, in my view, give us.

 For Discussion: What is it in Felix Bush's past that the first trailer hints at?