Coming Soon: Daddy Longlegs
by Giampaolo Bianconi
Fresh off the heels of the romantic and alluring The Pleasure of Being Robbed, Joshua Safdie has teamed up with his brother (and fellow Red Bucket Films mate) Ben Safdie on Daddy Longlegs, also known by the title Go Get Some Rosemary. The film’s two titles are indicative of the film’s own dual identities. If you watch the trailer available now via Apple and then watch what’s on the Red Bucket website, you’ll see two different films.
The first looks undeniably earnest without crossing into tearjerker territory, and nods to the type that Ronald Bronstein’s performance is already garnering. Yet it seems mostly familiar, fiting the mold of ‘indie film’ as it exists as a genre: catchy twee pop, hip silliness, a warming message. The second film, though, looks more harrowing, honest, and brave; most affectingly, the trailer is longer unaccompanied by intrusive music.
We don’t need Manohla Dargis to tell us the reason the film looks so different on Apple than it does on Red Bucket’s site: money. Via Red Bucket, the film has more in common with the Dardenne Brothers than Wes Anderson. But if the Anderson market already exists, why not exploit it?
I wonder whether or not this repackaging matters. Marketing fill theaters: after that, isn’t it the film that matters? And if the film remains the same (despite how it’s sold), I’m hesitant to nail IFC to the cross just yet. They may simply help the film reach a wider audience–regardless of what that audience thinks they’re going to see.
Daddy Longlegs (Red Bucket’s own Sundance Trailer)