Baz Luhrmann‘s fast paced visual spectacle meets Martin Scorsese‘s action riddled gangster films in Ben Affleck‘s fourth feature film, which is apt given one of the producers is long time collaborator of the two directors – Leonardo DiCaprio. Affleck casts himself again as a gangster in prohibition era Boston circa 1926 in Live By Night, based on the novel by Dennis Lahane.
The slick and exciting Trailer is so full of scope it’s hard to believe its all going to fit in the one film. Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), the youngest son of a prominent police captain, enjoys the spoils that come with being a notorious mobster – but in a world where everyone is fighting for power, no one can be trusted. Scott Eastwood, who plays Joe Coughlin’s brother Danny, seems to have been lost in the trailer as is what seems to happen to him in these big scale films. Blink during Suicide Squad (2016) or Fury (2014) and you wouldn’t notice he was even in them. Why someone of his star power would agree to be in these big movies just to stand there and look pretty in a few scenes is beyond me. Joining the giant cast and doing much more than standing there in the trailer are Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning, Chris Cooper, Titus Welliver, Chris Messina and Brendan Gleeson.
The trailer blares Hozier‘s ‘Arsonist’s Lullaby’, and the pairing will likely mean that the song will forever be associated with the film, much like Arcade Fire‘s ‘Wake Up’ is linked to Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are (2009) in our psyches (well, in mine anyway). It’s the use of modern music in a 1920’s period piece as well as the romantic, sweeping cinematography that leads me to reiterate the comment that it really does look a lot like Baz Luhrmann has directed a gangster movie. Perhaps its just that they’ve put all the exciting bits together in the trailer.
Live By Night is due to be released in January 2017 and given Affleck’s last directorial effort Argo (2012) won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Editing and Screenplay, we should be expecting good things. You can watch the trailer below.
Robert Glenister and Sienna Miller in Live By Night
Zoey Saldana, Ben Affleck et all in Live By Night
