'The Sea of Trees' Trailer Promises an Ocean of Sadness With Matthew McConaughey

If the title The Sea of Trees sounds familiar, it might be because of the recent horror film The Forest, which is also set in Japan’s Aokigahara Forest, aka the Suicide Forest, aka the Sea of Trees. Both movies involve the site’s infamy for being a place where people go to kill themselves. For this movie, that’s the objective of Matthew McConaughey’s character. But then he meets another suicidal man, played by Ken Watanabe, and together they experience a journey that changes their minds and lives.

The new trailer, shared below, doesn’t really convey that depressing premise. Instead it appears to be a movie about a marriage between McConaughey’s intellectual professor and his wife, played by Naomi Watts. They’re having issues, and then she’s diagnosed with a brain tumor. Presumably she dies and that’s when he seemingly goes on a soul-searching (but not obviously a life-ending) trip overseas. Even without copping to the suicide element, The Sea of Trees looks like a very sad movie.

Another reason you may have heard the title is that it debuted at Cannes last year and the response was not good at all. But that’s obviously not noted in the trailer, either. Instead we see an incredible trio of actors working with the great Gus Van Sant, and while all of them have had their share of disappointments, the real draw for movie fans should be the A24 logo at the beginning of the spot. The distributor has a tremendous reputation right now. Would they really risk that on a completely awful film?

The branding gives some hope that there’s something great about The Sea of Trees, and fortunately the distribution allows us to see it for ourselves and make up our own minds. We’ll be able to soon, too. The movie opens on August 26.

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