Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier has proven himself a master of uncanny realism and gripping relationship studies in dramas like “Reprise” and “Oslo, August 31st,” and his English-language debut, “Louder Than Bombs,” strongly carries on this tradition. The drama earned vast acclaim at its Cannes premiere last May, where it was quickly picked up by The Orchard for U.S. distribution.
The film picks up in the aftermath of a famed photographer’s tragic death (played in stirring memories by Isabelle Huppert) and focuses on her grieving family. While her husband struggles as a single parent, her two sons take different roads to recovery, with the oldest (Jesse Eisenberg) preoccupied with starting a family of his own and the youngest (a breakout Devin Druid) wearing his alienation as a badge of honor and resisting his father’s every attempt to connect. With a special retrospective being held to honor the artist’s work, the three men must come under the same roof to confront the truth of their memories and the accident.
Mixing tense family drama with a delicate meditation on the connective tissue between the past and present, “Louder Than Bombs” looks to be a wrenching experience, which is what we’ve come to expect from Trier over the past several years.
The Orchard will open the drama in select theaters on April 8. Watch the trailer above.
READ MORE: Cannes Review: Joachim Trier’s ‘Louder Than Bombs’ is a Complex Family Drama Done Right
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