Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for writer/directorBen Affleck’s gangster dramaLive by Night. Based on the novel of the same name byDennis Lehane, the film stars Affleck as Joe Coughlin, a World War I vet and son of a Boston Police Deputy Superintendent who operates in the criminal underworld with his own moral code, navigating the waters of Prohibition-era Miami.
What is there to say? Affleck has continually impressed as a director, Warner Bros. has demonstrated a clear faith in the film by putting it in a prime awards-qualifying holiday spot, and that trailer looks excellent. I’m all in. Affleck seems to have struck a fantastic stylistic middle ground that embraces the grandeur and mystique of the jazz era without abandoning his trademark sense of grounded realism, and the cinematography fromRobert Richardson(Tarantino’s tried and true DP sinceKill Bill Vol. 1) looks downright resplendent.
Watch the newLive by Nighttrailer below. The film also starsElle Fanning,Brendan Gleeson,Chris Messina,Sienna Miller,Zoe Saldana, andChris Cooper.Live by Nightopens in limited release on December 28th and expands wide on January 13th.
Here’s the official synopsis forLive by Night:
What you put out into this world will always come back to you, but it never comes back how you predict. Taking fatherly advice is not in Joe Coughlin’s nature. Instead, the WWI vet is a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love. Driven by a need to right the wrongs committed against him and those close to him, Joe heads down a risky path that goes against his upbringing and his own moral code. Leaving the cold Boston winter behind, he and his reckless crew turn up the heat in Tampa. And while revenge may taste sweeter than the molasses that infuses every drop of illegal rum he runs, Joe will learn that it comes at a price.
