After making waves at various film festivals, this docudrama will hit theaters this May.
IFC Films unveiled the official trailer for BlackBerry , an upcoming docudrama that retells the rise and fall of this iconic smartphone brand. Starring Jay Baruchel as visionary engineer Mike Lazaridis, this film explores the insides of corporate business in America, showing how market pressures can lead to innovation or total failure.
This trailer introduces us to Lazaridis and Douglas “Doug” Fregin (played by Matt Johnson), two best friends who have an idea that will change the landscape of personal communications forever: putting email services on cell phones. Unfortunately, what Lazaridis and Fregin had in terms of brilliance, they lacked in marketing ability, and so their innovative products faded into oblivion. That’s why Lazaridis decides to give most of his company to salesman Jim Balsillie (played by Glenn Howerton), a ruthless capitalist who puts profit over quality without a second thought.
Balsillie then helped Lazaridis to launch BlackBerry , the smartphone brand that would dominate the market before Apple and Google got into the cellphone game. But the rapid turn of Lazaridis’ company into a multi-million dollar monopoly will also affect the engineer’s personal relationships and alienate those who trust him most. It’s a crazy story BlackBerry tells with lots of good humor, as this new trailer underscores, which turns the grim saga of greed into one of the year’s best films.
Based on the book by Jacquie McNish, Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry , this film is directed by Matt Johnson from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Miller. BlackBerry previously had its world premiere at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and received rave reviews from critics around the world. While the BlackBerry theme may sound like something only tech enthusiasts can enjoy, Johnson and the entire cast do an excellent job of crafting a film that’s as funny as it is tragic that perfectly retells a complex true story without overwhelming its audience.
BlackBerry , which will be released on May 12, also stars Cary Elwes (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Saul Rubinek (Hunters, True Romance), Rich Sommer (The Devil Wears Prada, Mad Men), Martin Donovan (Tenet, Big Little Lies), and Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Scanners).