If there's one man who can expertly portray the confusing, complicated and downright testing millennial world of dating and long-distance relationships, it's director Drake Doremus.
Six years after his 2011 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning romantic drama Like Crazy, starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin as star-crossed lovers, the filmmaker returns to our screens with his latest film Newness.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and documents the early days of a relationship between two twenty somethings and their constant search for more.
Sound familiar?
The newly released trailer sees Martin (Nicholas Hoult) and Gabi (Laia Costa) 'match' on a dating app called Winx (it's basically Tinder), before embarking on the early days of dating; making small talk in bars, dancing in clubs and talking about the possibility of marriage, kids and love.
As the pair's relationship develops, Martin and Gabi delete their dating apps with Gabi finally telling her boyfriend she's always on the hunt of 'that constant newness', which catapults the duo into experimenting with an open relationship.
'If you want to flirt with a girl, you can do it,' Gabi tells Martin.
From watching Martin have a lap dance to spying on Gabi during a date with another man, the pair test the limitations of their relationship and, arguably, not for the better.
'For love to work, you have to actively pursue it,' Martin's friend explains, before the couple are seen in bed together - backs facing each other - while they roll through dating apps.
Trust us, this is like no other film about online dating.
According to the Verge, the film's plot was inspired by Nancy Jo Sales' controversial 2015 report for Vanity Fair, titled 'Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse'.
'The article was fascinating to us because [the film's screenwriter] Ben [York Jones] is in a long-term relationship, and I just ended one a little bit ago, so we just kind of missed that whole thing,' Dormemus explained to Movie Mezzanine earlier this year.
And while it's often argued that online dating isn't real; that it's an illusory experience of human interaction and emotion, Dorms argues romantic connection is possible at the swipe of a screen.
'It's of the moment, but the same issues we deal with of intimacy, what we share and don't share, how we relate to each other — they're kind of timeless, in a sense,' he adds.
The film was picked up by Netflix in June however a release date is yet to be announced.
Watch the trailer below:
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
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