Good news: cinephiles won’t have to wait long for A24’s mystery sci-fi project. Last week, the tastemaker studio dropped a trailer that featured plenty of haunting imagery, but had zero information about what it actually was. However, eagle-eyed fans have deduced from a still of Sundance short “Toru,” along with pictures of the set, that the short is A24’s project in question. While dreams of a possible Shane Carruth film have been dashed, “Toru” sounds quite intriguing, and A24 has had a good track record with sci-fi in “Ex Machina.”
Directed by Jonathan Minard and Scott Rashap, shot by DP Matt Mitchell (“The Stakelander”) and featuring a score by Brian McComber (“Krisha”), “Toru” is about how “an infant’s life is transformed by a new technology.” The short is fourteen minutes long and in Japanese with English subtitles, featuring the cast of Ai Kiyono, Yasu Suzuki, Tatsuo Ichikawa, Tsukasa Kondo, John Mullen, and Tamara Hickey. A further synopsis is below:
With a science fiction undercurrent, Toru centers on the story of a baby boy, named Toru, born with a fatal lung condition. As he only has a few days to live Toru’s parents sign him up for a trial experiment that would simulate a full life in a matter of days.
The film follows Toru’s dream-like life simulation as a boy named Todd growing up in a New England suburb, and concludes in futuristic Japan.
No word yet on what A24’s plans for the film might be, but maybe it’ll screen in front of one of their features this year? Let’s hope so. [The Film Stage]
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