THE NIGHTINGALE Trailer

Revenge is a grind in The Nightingale, the latest from writer and director Jennifer Kent.

The person going on the vengeful quest is Clare, a young convict whose family was terrorized by a British officer in 1820s Australia. Instead of letting the injustice stand, she takes off after him, crossing the wilderness with the help of an Aboriginal tracker. Both of them are on the low end of Australian society, though, so it seems unlikely that they can right all the wrongs they’ve seen.

As sturdy and moody a premise as this may seem, most of the excitement comes from Kent’s name. Her feature debut, the idiosyncratic horror film The Babadook, took the world by storm. The fact that there seems to be some larger meaning lurking behind the revenge in The Nightingale makes me think the two films will have a similar appeal.

Headlining the film is Aisling Franciosi, who you likely won’t recognize despite having roles in numerous television shows. You have to imagine Kent had her pick of actresses, so perhaps she wanted an unfamiliar face to better settle audiences into this period drama. That Baykali Ganambarr as the tracker is making his debut backs up this theory, and the fact that Sam Claflin is the biggest name of the bunch seems to cement it.

The growing buzz for The Nightingale shows that big actors aren’t really necessary, at least not when people are clamoring for a promising director’s second feature. Hopefully Kent can avoid the sophomore slump.

The Nightingale is directed by Jennifer Kent and stars Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, and Baykali Ganambarr. It will be released in the US on August 2nd, 2019. For international release dates, click here.

Are you excited for this one? Let us know why in the comments!