There had been some hope Derek Cianfrance's The Light Between Oceans would be a factor at this year's Academy Awards, but that's not the path Disney has set for the romance drama. Instead they've decided to hold back on it until the fall, banking on stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz, all Academy Awards regulars at this point, to elevate the film to Oscar contention for next year, and judging by the newly released trailer it may have been a wise move.
The Guardian has released the first trailer for The Light Between Oceans, which is based on the M.L. Stedman book which follows an Australian lighthouse keeper, still haunted by WWI, and his wife who rescue a baby adrift at sea in a lifeboat. They've lived an isolated life up until that point, but after claiming the child as their own and venturing back to the mainland, they discover that their actions can have severe consequences on others.
Is the trailer melodramatic? Absolutely? But this is the kind of old fashioned star-driven romance that used to be a regular thing until mature movies got squeezed out by the need for more blockbusters. Generally this kind of film gets a couple of no-name actors, gets slapped with the "Nicholas Sparks" label, and is dropped on Valentine's Day weekend. So it's good to see this kind of movie with a top notch filmmaker like Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) behind it, and with a cast that will be tough for audiences to ignore.
The Light Between Oceans opens September 2nd.
