Award-Winning Gangster Thriller, THE BEAUTIFUL ONES, Exposes The Real-World Ugliness Of Film Distribution In Its Unnecessarily Color-Corrected U.S. Trailer

Film multi-hyphenate Jesse V. Johnson's (upcoming Accident Man and Triple Threat) long-awaited modern-day Romeo & Juliet gangster thriller, The Beautiful Ones, has seen a raft of accolades and wins in the last few years and one only wondered since what would become of its U.S. release. Gravitas Ventures answered that question with its acquisition back in Feburary and even moreso in the past few weeks with its own trailer...in color.

Not black and white. Not the version upon which reporters like myself have been giving this movie glowing reviews over. Nope. This one, depressingly color corrected and its entire aesthetic and creative value nearly completely undone at best; if you saw the earlier black and white version of the film, you might understand as that particular color treatment is as equally important and livening to the film as its music, set pieces and cast performances over all led by actor Ross McCall - His role's adherance to all things Steve McQueen is pivotal to what drives the very soul of this movie and... that Gravitas Ventures doesn't seem care about this....it bothers me. Greatly.

It further makes me wonder, among other things, who the hell is even running things at that company there. A flippant cat? A bored chimp? Who? I say this, and plainly, for the fact that it's this kind of regressive, tone-deaf corporate decision making on a valued and celebrated form of art that we simply don't need. And now, instead of a brilliantly filmed, immersive action and crime drama, those very kinds of decisions that now make The Beautiful Ones look like every other soulless B-movie flick being sold in stores.

Seriously, whoever at Gravitas Ventures decided this film needed coloring should resign, or be rightly fired, as of this write-up. I'm sick of distributors doing this crap as it is unfair to neither Johnson nor the cast who worked so hard to put this gem together.

I'm placing the official trailer below, but I'm pairing it with the international black and one version of movie for open comparison for those not too familiar. I welcome you to be the judge and decide which version seems more fitting.

Oh, and the film comes out on July 11 on DVD, Blu-Ray and VoD. Do with that what you will.