Most modern day romance films are pretty archetypal, boy finds a girl, girl falls in love with a boy, something happens due to a lack of communication, the boy makes a romantic gesture to win girl back. Ana Lily Amirpour seems to be as sick of it as the rest of us are, as the teaser trailer for her upcoming movie The Bad Batch is far from the stereotypical love affair.
The movie tells the story of a girl (Arlen) attempting to survive a harsh post-apocalyptic desert landscape, ripe with cannibals. The role of Arlen will be played by British actress Suki Waterhouse, best known for her roles in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as an appearance in The Divergent Series: Insurgent.
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Waterhouse will be joined by a star-studded cast including Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, and Keanu Reeves. At first glance, the trailer displays that Reeves will play the antagonist and Momoa will play the gruff companion and possible love interests.
While it’s not entirely fair to call The Bad Batch a love story, considering the teaser displays a fair amount of morbid scenery that certainly doesn’t feel romantic – like two of Arlen’s limbs being sawed off – Amirpour’s second film gives off a vibe reminiscent of her first. The Girl Walks Home Alone at Night could be classified as a number of things, but the easiest way to describe it in a genre sense would be to call it an Iranian vampire romance western – four words I never thought I’d write sequentially,
It’s because of her previous work that Amirpour’s unique approach to a love story will likely be on display again in The Bad Batch, even if it’s not prominently displayed in the teaser. It’s safe to say that film probably won’t qualify as a romance movie when it’s released in theaters this summer on June 23rd, 2017.
