Sometimes, movie trailers appear, and you suddenly realize that there is nothing else you want in this life, and that’s what happened when the trailer for Strange Way of Life dropped this morning. The Pedro Almodóvar film set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival is, as he has stated, his answer to Brokeback Mountain (which he once declined to direct), and it stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal—all enough information for me, personally, to get excited about the film.
But today, the trailer was released and gave us a bit more of an idea of the tone of the movie, as well as the look of it, and by god, Almodóvar has given me just enough to decide that I can safely make this movie my entire personality. Campy, emotional, and bright, all rolled into a trailer where Ethan Hawke is shirtless as Pedro Pascal tends to his wounds, this movie looks like the perfection we always wanted it to be.
The film is described as follows: “A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake. Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship….”
Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the beauty that is the trailer for Strange Way of Life.
A gift to us all
We all remember where we were when Brokeback Mountain came out, because it was such a moment in cinema history that it has stuck with people. Since then, we’ve had queer love stories captivate audiences in a similar way. More recently, movies like Call Me by Your Name and Moonlight have been recognized for their work, but something like Strange Way of Life feels fresh and new. And with both Hawke and Pascal as the leads, it will bring a whole new audience to Almodóvar’s work who might not have seen his previous films. (We love to educate younger audiences on the legends of cinema.)
Pascal and Hawke have been in the “internet boyfriend” conversation a lot recently, which is honestly really fun given their long careers and the sudden new success they’ve both found. You might say I’m a fan of Pedro Pascal, but I am also a Dead Poets Society girlie—all this to say, I’m excited.
The short film will be released at the festival and reportedly has a runtime of about 31 minutes, but this trailer really has just made me want to see a house of Pascal and Hawke together. The joy and excitement in this trailer matched with the energy that we get from both Pascal and Hawke’s performances make this one short film I need to see as soon as possible.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Classic)
