UPDATED: A trailer has been released for Damián Szifron’s “To Catch A Killer,” a genre exercise that looks influenced by the visual stylings of David Fincher, and there’s even a hint of Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” here as well. It just looks very grim.
EARLIER: Last November, Vertical Entertainment had picked up Damián Szifron’s “Misanthrope”, a psychological thriller from the Argentinian director of “Wild Tales”. Now it’s been retitled “To Catch A Killer” and will be released on April 21st. Bad news.
Szifron’s excellent “Wild Tales” was one of the major highlights of Cannes 2014. I had heard that “Misanthrope” was submitted for last year’s edition of the festival, but it was ubiquitously absent from the official selection. Hmm …
The film stars Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in Baltimore on New Year’s Eve, a talented but troubled police officer (Woodley) is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Mendelsohn) to help profile and track down a mass murderer.
The actual synopsis for “Misanthrope” sounds a tad too pedestrian and one would have expected a more prestigious arthouse distributor to buy the rights. It seems as though Szifron’s might be entering a sophomore slump.