First Trailer for Indie ‘Red Knot’ Starring Olivia Thirlby

The first trailer for Scott Cohen’s indie drama Red Knot has surfaced, starring Olivia Thirlby (Juno) and Vincent Kartheiser (TV’s Mad Men). The film follows Thirlby and Kartheiser as a newly married couple that boards a research vessel headed for Antarctica, and the fragility of their marriage as the trip starts to take its toll on the young lovers.

For Cohen, Red Knot marks his first feature as a writer and director, with no prior credits to his name. Thirlby, once a fixture On the indie circuit with films like Snow Angels, The Secret, The Wackness, and Nobody Walks, has been seldom seen on-screen lately, with Red Knot being her first film since 2012’s Dredd. Kartheiser has also been absent from the silver screen, although that’s mainly due to his work on the aforementioned AMC series, Mad Men. He has starred in three feature films since 2011 – Rango, In Time, and Beach Pillows.

The quiet, meditative trailer shows restraint in revealing only brief moments of conflict, little dialogue, and allowing the majestic surroundings to dominate most of the action.

While Red Knot may have a tricky time finding an audience, what with an unknown director and its two leads having done little recent big screen work, but the trailer does seem to have a few things in its favor. For one, it provides a wholly unusual backdrop for an intimate drama, offering some beautiful, haunting images of glacier melts and arctic wildlife. The images also seem to serve as a parallel metaphor for the couple’s relationship, as we see a crumbling and dying habitat coinciding with the struggles of a young couple and their marriage.

Thirlby does appear to have a busier upcoming schedule than in prior years. She’ll also star in this year’s 5 To 7, as well as Just Before I Go, with 2015 providing a full slate of six movies lined up. Kartheiserm meanwhile, has Zoe Cassavetes’ (daughter of famed indie director John Cassavetes) directorial debut Day Out of Days slated for 2015, as well as the final season of Mad Men.

Red Knot will premiere in New York on December 5.