JP Nunez
I have to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the Machination trailer. It’s basically just a bunch of loosely connected scenes that feature a hysterical, seemingly germophobic woman trying to stay clean, but it doesn’t give us any sense of what’s driving her. And you know what? I’m super intrigued. Here’s what the film is about:
News of an out of control pandemic has gripped the world and mass panic is pushing humanity into an uncertain future. Maria, a sensitive and anxious woman, struggles to cope in self-isolation. With fear mounting and the demands of the world closing in, Maria is forced to confront her past and the monsters that surround her … both without and within.
Once you understand the plot of Machination, the trailer begins to make a bit (and only a bit!) more sense. It’s giving us a taste of what Maria’s struggle is going to look like, and it’s awesome. For starters, actress Steffi Thake’s performance as Maria here looks fantastic. Sure, a 90-second trailer is a very small sample, but if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, Machination is going to feature one hell of a lead performance.
On top of that, this trailer also does a really good job of conveying a sense of paranoia and anxiety, and for my money, that’s the best thing about it. I don’t know about you, but the quick cuts and the lack of narrative direction in this minute and a half already have me feeling a bit anxious and disoriented, so I can only imagine what the full movie is going to be like.
When you combine those two strong elements, you get one hell of a trailer, so I can’t wait to see Machination. And thankfully, that wait isn’t going to be long at all. The film hits VOD on May 20, so we’ll be able to experience it for ourselves in just a few short weeks.
