This summer, somehow, I ended up seeing more films than I have in the past five or six years combined.  Since most of these films were from the summer-blockbuster variety (Star Trek, Wolverine, GI Joe, etc.) I ended up seeing many of the same trailers over and over. I feel like I’ve already seen some of those films, even though they haven’t been released.

However, it might have been before District 9 (which was super-intense, by the way; I’m stressed just remembering it!), I saw this lovely trailer for Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are:

Author Dave Eggers, who wrote the screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are (and is adapting it into a novel)  calls Jonze’s visual aesthetic “dirty surrealism.”  From this article in New York magazine:

In the book, the colors are natural and muted. Maurice didn’t color things brightly just to please children. He did it in a way that he thought was true. With Malkovich, Spike pioneered something I call “dirty surrealism.” It’s murky and pedestrian-seeming and naturalistic. He continued that for this film. He didn’t want a candy-colored, fantastical place. He wanted a real world and home.

I love the choice of Arcade Fire’s Wake Up (re-recorded for use) in this trailer — their chamber indie pop style evokes a similar “dirty surrealism” as Jonze.  I thought the use of their song My Body is a Cage in the Benjamin Button trailer was interesting, but this one just fits.

If I were in a band, I think I would prefer to have my music used in a movie trailer than in a commercial (although, depending on the product & the ad, that would probably work for me too!).  I’m definitely looking forward to this film’s release.