Hal Hartley makes a comeback with the trailer for "Where to Land," featuring Bill Sage, Robert John Burke, and Edie Falco.

      In paraphrasing Kent Jones on John Carpenter: The United States doesn’t have an abundance of excellent directors to spare, meaning it cannot let Hal Hartley slip through the cracks. It has been 11 years since Ned Rifle, and although a number of restorations and Criterion Channel streams (not to mention a novel inspired by his unmade Amazon series) help highlight Hartley’s unique abilities, it feels like this 65-year-old filmmaker shouldn’t be sidelined. This sentiment contributed to the excitement when his Kickstarter for Where to Land achieved its funding goal in 2023—there’s undoubtedly a better reality where he wouldn’t need to solicit to such an extent, but unfortunately, that’s not the case here.

      Where to Land is set to premiere on September 12 at New York’s Roxy Cinema, with hopes for additional cities to follow. Leading up to this, a trailer has been released that showcases a classic Hartley cast (Bill Sage, Robert John Burke, Edie Falco) and style; while his distinctive dialogue may not create a seamless advertisement, I’m glad to see he hasn't lost his touch (nor his visual style in this low-budget digital endeavor). I'm also intrigued by the poster for Hartley’s own Flirt that appears in the background. While he’s not often seen solely as a follower of Godard, those influences become clear upon reflection. So yes, I’m looking forward to Hal Hartley’s Every Man for Himself.

      Here’s a synopsis: “A farce about a celebrated director of romantic comedies who, in his later years, seeks a position as an assistant groundskeeper at a cemetery. As this coincides with a meeting with his lawyer to discuss his will, his family, friends, and neighbors mistakenly believe he is dying and gather in his apartment to say their goodbyes.”

      Find the preview and poster below: