[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.  Compliance opens in limited release today.]

In recent memory, only last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene made my skin crawl and stomach turn like Compliance. In some ways, Compliance is far worse since it goes beyond two people and instead casts an accusatory finger at humanity and asks, “How easily can you be tricked into dehumanizing another person?” Craig Zobel‘s incredible script and brilliant direction slowly puts you in a chokehold until you’re struggling to breathe and begging to be let go. Compliance is almost impossibly difficult to endure and it only eases up when Zobel makes a minor mistake in casting, explanation, or resolution. But these are small missteps in a film that sickens you to your core. And then it gets worse when you remember that the story is based on true events.

The trailer for Craig Zobel‘s Compliance has gone online.  The film, based on true events, revolves around the employees at a fast food restaurant who bend to the wills of a disembodied voice on the telephone claiming to be a police officer.  I saw the film at Sundance, and it made my skin crawl and stomach turn.  It’s a movie where you want to chastise the characters for being stupid, but deep down you’re forced to seriously consider if you would have behaved the same way in their position.  Zobel did a tremendous job creating a psychological thriller that gets into some interesting and unnerving questions about human psychology.  The trailer’s worth watching although it could have done a better job at highlighting the film’s creepiness.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, and Bill Camp.  Compliance opens August 17th.

In recent memory, only last year’s Martha Marcy May Marlene made my skin crawl and stomach turn like Compliance.  In some ways, Compliance is far worse since it goes beyond two people and instead casts an accusatory finger at humanity and asks, “How easily can you be tricked into dehumanizing another person?”  Craig Zobel‘s incredible script and brilliant direction slowly puts you in a chokehold until you’re struggling to breathe and begging to be let go.  Compliance is almost impossibly difficult to endure and it only eases up when Zobel makes a minor mistake in casting, explanation, or resolution.  But these are small missteps in a film that sickens you to your core.  And then it gets worse when you remember that the story is based on true events.

Sony Pictures Classics has released a new theatrical trailer for director Stephen Frears’ (High Fidelity, The Queen) upcoming film, Tamara Drewe.  The film stars Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans) as Tamara Drewe, who begins to turn the life of the locals upside down when she returns to the village where she grew up.  Although the trailer doesn’t get me too excited about the film, Frears has proven to be a very talented director and I look forward to seeing anything that has his name on it.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and to read a plot synopsis for the film.  Tamara Drewe opens on October 8^th and will also be one of the many films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.