Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for writer and director Noah Baumbach's latest film, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). There aren't many independent filmmakers around right now either, who have cultivated the same kind of fandom and reputation amongst film fans that Baumbach has over the years. Starting in 1995 with Kicking and Screaming, Baumbach has managed to consistently deliver some of the more insightful, moving, and funny low-budget films of the past two decades, even as the rest of the industry and general moviegoers have begun paying more and more to summer blockbusters and long-running franchises.
Baumbach returns to the big screen this year for the first time since 2015's Mistress America with The Meyerowitz Stories - which not only reunites the veteran filmmaker with some of his favorite actors but is also Baumbach's first movie made with Netflix. And following the film's premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival earlier this summer, the streaming service has finally given fans their first taste of what Baumbach's latest project has to offer.
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Netflix has officially unveiled the first teaser trailer for The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) online (see the video above). While the preview doesn't offer much in terms of story or plot, it spends most of its time teasing the film's central, dysfunctional family dynamic and melancholic sense of humor. The fact that the film also boasts one of Baumbach's best onscreen ensembles to date - including Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, Grace Van Patten, Elizabeth Marvel, and Dustin Hoffman - certainly makes it easier to promote, too.
The Meyerowitz Stories was one of two Netflix films (the other being Bong Joon Ho's Okja) that premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival this year, and the presence of the two titles in the lineup actually led to the festival creating a new rule that no film could compete for the Palme d’Or without theatrical releases. This, of course, went against the strategy Netflix has been using with a majority of their titles as of late but explains why The Meyerowitz Stories will be receiving a limited theatrical run, later this year.
While that rule may have caused some frustration amongst Netflix execs too, The Meyerowitz Stories received massive early acclaim following its premiere at the festival, making it one of the biggest wild card indie titles set to be released during this year's awards season. Particularly, many said that Sandler - who is working with Baumbach for the first time here - had given his best performance to date in the film, tapping into the same dramatic depths that he's showcased only a handful of other times before (perhaps most notably in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love). Based solely on today's teaser trailer, it looks like he won't be the only one bringing real comedy and emotion to The Meyerowitz Stories.
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Source: Netflix
