U.S. Trailer for Laurynas Bareiša’s Drowning Dry Introduces a Beguiling Family Drama

Winner of Locarno’s Best Director and Best Performance awards last year, Laurynas Bareiša’s Drowning Dry went on to be selected as Lithuania’s entry for the Best International Feature Academy Award. Now, following a stop at New Directors/New Films, the beguiling drama is set for a release on beginning July 18th at NYC’s IFC Center. Ahead of Dekanalog’s the new U.S. trailer and poster have arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “It starts with a kick to the head. Mixed martial arts competitor Lukas (Paulius Markevičius) has just handily defeated his opponent and celebrates with his wife, child, and friends backstage, setting the scene for a nimble combination of communal bonding and looming horrors.”

Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Memories can be slippery things. Take what happens around the halfway point of Laurynas Bareiša’s beguiling second feature: two women––more specifically Ernesta (Gelminė Glemžaitė) and Juste (Agnė Kaktaitė), sisters on holiday with their respective families (a husband each, with one son and one daughter, respectively)––start dancing to Donna Lewis with what looks like an old routine, part half-remembered movements, part muscle memory. This entrancing sequence is cut short when their kids ask to go swimming, where one of the children appears to drown. The film then jumps forward in time, where Ernesta is visiting a man whose life was saved by one of her late husband’s organs. Before finding out how he died, we jump back again: same holiday, same sisters, same dance, only this time it’s Lighthouse Family. “When you’re close to tears, remember,“ Tunde Baiyewu sings, “someday it’ll all be over.“

See the trailer and poster below (via IndieWire) and read our interview with the director here.

The post U.S. Trailer for Laurynas Bareiša’s Drowning Dry Introduces a Beguiling Family Drama first appeared on The Film Stage.