‘Newlyweeds’ Trailer Spoils a Sundance Gem

By  · Published on August 8th, 2013

One of the many independent films that caught my eye from this year’s Sundance Film Festival slate for not featuring any major stars was Newlyweeds. It wasn’t widely-seen or talked about like some of the festival’s bigger hitters, but it should’ve been. Director Shaka King’s feature debut is a colorful pot-dramedy that works in minimal ways. That bittersweet feel jumps around tonally, and because of that, it’s not an easy movie to sell with only 90 seconds, as shown by the film’s first preview.

Feel free to take a look at the trailer’s first 53 seconds ‐ after those first 53 seconds, the preview heads into serious spoiler territory. Something it doesn’t spoil so much is Isiah Whitlock Jr.’s performance as an eccentric drug dealer that gets slightly intrusive when the lead, played with a lot of charm by Amari Cheatom, spends a night in jail. Whitlock’s character is a fine example of Newlyweed’s personality, with how it lets you get these warm ‐ or not so warm ‐ snippets into other characters’ lives. And although the trailer shows a lot, one thing it doesn’t: its killer soundtrack. Check out the (first 53 seconds) of the Newlyweeds trailer after the break.

Newlyweeds opens in limited release on September 18th. [Indiewire]

Longtime FSR contributor Jack Giroux likes movies. He thinks they're swell.