The Driftless Area Trailer (2016)

Trailer for The Driftless Area.

Pierre Hunter (Anton Yelchin), a bartender with unyielding optimism, returns to his tiny hometown after his parents' death. When he falls for the enigmatic Stella (Zooey Deschanel), Pierre is unknowingly pulled into a cat-and-mouse game that involves a duffel bag full of cash, a haphazard yet determined criminal (John Hawkes), and a mystery that will determine all of their fates. With Alia Shawkat, Frank Langella, Aubrey Plaza, and Ciarán Hinds. Zachary Sluser's film, based on the novel by Tom Drury, is a contemporary fable about the ways we struggle to control time and fate in a possibly predetermined universe.

Another outside-the-box genre-bender that had a tough time finding its way into the loving arms of a distributor. Having completed production in 2014, The Driftless Area had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18th, 2015. Getting no love, the film took another crack at the festival circuit with the Aruba International Film Festival on October 7th, 2015. Sony Pictures was in attendance and, shortly after that festival, announced that they had acquired it for distribution. The only catch was that they decided to go straight to VOD and other home media formats. Bummer.

The film has a bit of a The Lovely Bones flair, with just as impressive cast. But this time the ghost, played by Zooey Deschanel, gets to interact with her avenger. The Driftless Area therefore attempts to mix a number of genres that are not limited to paranormal, action, crime, mystery and... romance?

And this is where the trailer comes off strange. The music turns quirky while presenting footage suggesting some sort of attraction between the two lead characters. That's great! That sounds like something the audience can follow. The only problem is that this quirky segment in the preview is littered with clips of people not only hurting each other, but firing guns at God knows what.

One would assume that this same mixture of footage is what caused studios to shy away.