Normally, when a filmmaker is prepping to premiere at a film festival, they have to decide if they want to do a premiere in the early part of the year or wait until the fall festivals. If you’re writer-director Sebastián Silva, you do both. Silva is coming off the recent premiere of his film “Fistful of Dirt” at Telluride a couple weeks ago, but before that, he premiered “Tyrel” at Sundance. And finally, the first of his two films, “Tyrel,” is hitting theaters.
There’s no way around it, “Tyrel” is going to be compared to Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” And judging by the new trailer for the film, Magnolia Pictures is happy to embrace the comparison. “Tyrel” stars Jason Mitchell (“Straight Outta Compton”) as Tyler, a young guy who decides to join his friend on a drinking and hunting trip in the Catskills. However, once he joins everyone, it’s readily apparent that Tyler is out of his element, being the only Black person among a bunch of drunk men. As partying commences, and more people are added to the mix, Tyler’s trip to the mountains takes a dark turn.
In our review from the Sundance premiere, we were in the middle about the film as a whole, but loved Mitchell’s performance, saying, “Mitchell is charismatic and complicated, seeking out and working through variations on this stranger-in-a-strange-land theme…”
In addition to Mitchell, the film stars Christopher Abbott, Michael Cera, Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Zegan, Philip Ettinger, Ann Dowd, and Reg E. Cathey.
“Tyrel” hits theaters on December 5.
Here’s the synopsis:
TYREL follows Tyler, who joins his friend on a trip to the Catskills for a weekend birthday party with several people he doesn’t know. As soon as they get there, it’s clear that (1) he’s the only black guy, and (2) it’s going to be a weekend of heavy drinking. Although Tyler is welcomed, he can’t help but feel uneasy in “Whitesville.” The combination of all the testosterone and alcohol starts to get out of hand, and Tyler’s precarious situation starts to feel like a nightmare.
