First Trailer For Canadian SciFi MARS ET AVRIL

The first trailer for Martin - yes, the brother of Denis -  Villeneuve's upcoming Canadian science fiction offering Mars Et Avril is a textbook example of the sort of film that can only exist within an industry driven by government subsidies. Whether this is a good or bad thing is entirely a matter of personal taste.

Mars et Avril is quite possibly the first Québécois film set in a Montreal of the future. As Man is about to set foot on Mars, a small community of anticybernetics is busy trying to slow down time. Among them is JACOB OBUS (Jacques Languirand), an emblematic and beloved septuagenarian who creates captivating music on instruments inspired by the female body, designed by his friend ARTHUR (Paul Ahmarani). Once Jacob and Arthur fall in love with AVRIL (Caroline Dhavernas), a young and short-winded photographer, the old sex-symbol's true nature is revealed. Upon discovering love for the first time in his life, Jacob leaves for Mars in search of his muse. In the midst of everything arrives EUGÈNE SPAAK (Robert Lepage), inventor, cosmologist and Arthur's father, who maintains that Mars is only a chimera.

Shot largely on green screen with environments added in post production, Mars Et Avril is very much on the arthouse end of the spectrum - the presence of genius theater maverick Robert Lepage is a sure fire indication of that - and while budget limits can be seen in some of the visuals others are simply fantastic. The failure of recent Belgian effort Mr Nobody to find a significant audience despite a much more audience friendly exterior leaves me with little hope for this one but time will tell. Take a look below.