James Gray’s new feature,The Lost City of Z, is based on a true tale of a British military man, Percy Fawcett, (Charlie Hunnam) who becomes an explorer in search of (you guessed it) a lost city in the Amazon. That search becomes an increasingly desperate obsession, andThe Lost City of Zturns from being an adventure story to something much darker (Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darknesscomes to mind).
The trailer teases the perils of such exploration, but also shows what a visually stunning and gorgeous film Gray has created. Even in this brief teaser, you can feel the humidity and the heat and the bugs – though thankfully all from a safe distance. And yet, there’s also a strong sense of Fawcett’s drive that becomes a kind of madness as he is desperate to find this fabled city.
Check out this new teaser below:
Our own Chris Cabin said in hisreview of the filmat the New York Film Festival:
From the outset, this humid, deeply human movie, directed by James Gray, comes on like a classic adventure tale, one where a governmentally decorated go-getter seeks discovery, excitement, and a sterling reputation in an unknown land where his life is worth little more than a possible dinner for a hungry local tribe. […] And yet, Gray’s adaptation of David Grann‘s beloved bestseller is a far quieter, more ruminative, and confidently intimate movie than all that would suggest. […] One would hope on the evidence of this movie, this masterpiece, that Gray would have studios lining up to back whatever his next movie might be.
The Lost City of Zpremieres April 14th. Below is a synopsis for the film via Film Society of Lincoln Center, as well as newly released images:
James Gray’s emotionally and visually resplendent epic tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett (a remarkable Charlie Hunnam), the British military-man-turned-explorer whose search for a lost city deep in the Amazon grows into an increasingly feverish, decades-long magnificent obsession that takes a toll on his reputation, his home life with his wife (Sienna Miller) and children, and his very existence. Gray and cinematographer Darius Khondji cast quite a spell, exquisitely pitched between rapture and dizzying terror. Also starring Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland, The Lost City of Z represents a form of epic storytelling that has all but vanished from the landscape of modern cinema, and a rare level of artistry.
