Movies about how a group of seemingly random people are actually connected are pretty common and are usually made to make some sort of larger sociological point. In something like Robert Altman’s Short Cuts it’s about how we’re all just trying to make it through our lives the best we can as we deal with our own struggles. In Crash it’s about how racism, if I’m reading the film correctly, is bad. To the point where it could kill Sandra Bullock.
Now Anesthesia enters the genre. The movie – written, directed and starring Tim Blake Nelson – follows what happens after Walter, a university professor (Sam Waterston), is mugged. He’s helped by a stranger Sam (Corey Stoll) and over the course of the movie we see more of their stories as well as those of Walter’s family, the mugger who attacked him and some of the people they’ve interacted with and how they’ve all impacted and affected each other.
The Posters
The movie’s poster focuses on showing some of the relationships between the characters. So strips of photos are arranged on the poster, most of which pair two characters with each other in a way that lets us assume that these two will be connected in some way, or at least that there will be a decent amount of screen time the two share. The cast list appears at the top, the title treatment at the bottom and in-between some of the photos we get quotes from critics who have already seen the movie.
The Trailers
The first and only trailer leans heavy on a lecture being given by Waterston’s character. We see him addressing a group of students, talking with Stewart’s character and more as he more or less explains the themes of the movie, that we’re all looking for connection and searching for truths and more. We get looks at most all of the characters here, though in some cases their connections to others are a bit nebulous, even if they’re kind of easy to guess at.
It’s a moving trailer that shows the movie to be a quiet character drama. There are no “big” shots here so the studio obviously isn’t trying to oversell the film as something with lots of huge moments. Instead we’re promised a good collection of actors working with material that, at least on first impression, attempts to dig a little deeply into the human condition.
Online and Social
The sparse official website contains minimal information, but for a small movie like this that’s not unexpected. So on the page you can watch the trailer, read a story synopsis and view the poster. There’s also a link that will take you to a Twitter hashtag search for the film’s title.
The film didn’t even have much of a presence on IFC’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, which went from 45 Years to the upcoming Dixieland.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Nothing I’ve seen or been able to find.
Media and Publicity
The movie had its official coming out at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, appropriate given its New York City setting, where it garnered largely positive reviews for the story and its ensemble cast.
There wasn’t a ton of publicity for the movie, but the push did include a lifestyle profile of writer/director/star Nelson where he talked about his family, daily routine, how shooting the movie in New York allowed him to occasionally walk to work and more.
Overall
While totally understanding this is a limited release movie with a small budget, this feels like kind of a small and lackluster campaign. The individual elements work alright but it never really adds up to anything that feels substantive.
What there is doesn’t exactly sell either a rip-roaring good time at the movies or anything that seems overly “important.” This looks instead like a decent character drama that maybe overreaches slightly in grasping for profundity but is still a good story about how we do – or sometimes fail to – coexist with our fellow human beings.
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