'There There' Trailer: Jason Schwartzman, Lili Taylor & More Star In Andrew Bujalski's Experimental Drama

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen quite a few attempts at a “pandemic” movie. Not necessarily films that feature plagues, but just features produced during lockdown when people weren’t able to come together in large groups. This isolation has had major effects on mental health, but also on art and creativity, leading to some interesting experiments, such as “There There.”

As seen in the trailer for “There There,” the film tells a fairly normal story about connection and relationships in modern society. However, it’s how filmmaker Andrew Bujalski created the film that sets it apart. You see, Bujalski wanted to accentuate the idea of isolation by filming each actor separately and in different locations than the rest of the cast. The performances are then sewn together and “There There” was created. 

READ MORE: There’s Not Much ‘There There’ in Andrew Bujalski’s Latest [Tribeca Review]

The film stars Jason Schwartzman, Lili Taylor, Lennie James, Molly Gordon, Annie La Ganga, and Avi Nash. “There There” comes from director Andrew Bujalski, who is probably best known for his 2018 film, “Support the Girls.” 

Our review of the film was mixed and said, “But the longer ‘There There’ goes, the more it meanders and never into the realm of anything particularly funny or compelling. Instead, it plays mostly like a series of exercises – in writing, acting, and covid-era production. It feels like a movie Bujalski made to make a movie. Which is fine for him but doesn’t offer much to the rest of us.”

“There There” debuts in theaters and on-demand on November 18. You can watch the trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis:

Acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (Support the Girls, Computer Chess) explores the precarious nature of human connection in There There, a round robin of emotional two-character vignettes in which seven people reach out and bond momentarily, setting the scene for the next encounter. A pair of new lovers, an alcoholic and her AA sponsor, a teacher and a parent, a lawyer and his client, and more move from scene to scene, revealing intimate details as they forge connections. Via a groundbreaking shooting process, Bujalski plays with ideas of isolation and perception by filming each actor individually in separate locations, only joining them to their partner’s performance in the edit. An extraordinary cast including Jason Schwartzman, Lennie James, Lili Taylor and Molly Gordon sensitively captures the humor and heartbreaking fragility of life and love in the 2020s.