IFC Films has released the first trailer for 4:44 Last Day on Earth.
The premise? The entire population is going to be simultaneously wiped out early the next morning. The world quickly becomes a dangerous place, and the film follows the last hours of a a New York couple as they wait out the end in their high-rise apartment.
The trailer is very dark, emotional and quite different from the upcoming Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, a romantic comedy with a similar premise. True, the characters in the second film have a bit more time, and they’re on a road trip, rather than trapped in an apartment, but it otherwise seeks the same psychological space without being a downer.
Unfortunately, it looks as if there will be quite a lot of staring out the window at nothing, and talking quietly in bed, and other such melodramatic devices.
The official synopsis is thus:
In a large apartment high above the city lives our couple. They’re in love. She’s a painter, he’s a successful actor. Just a normal afternoon – except that this isn’t a normal afternoon, for them or anyone else. Because tomorrow, at 4:44 am, give or take a few seconds, the world will come to an end far more rapidly than even the worst doomsayer could have imagined.
“The final meltdown will come not without warnings, but with no means of escape. There will be no survivors. As always, there are those who, as their last cigarette is being lit and the blindfold tightened, will still hope against hope for some kind of reprieve. For a miracle. Not our two lovers. They- like the majority of the Earth’s population – have accepted their fate: the world is going to end.
4:44 Last Day on Earth, which stars Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh, opens to a limited theatrical release – check the listings for your local art theater – on March 23rd, 2012.
