For anyone tired of needlessly cheery fluff like The America****n and Winter's Bone, Alejandro Iñárritu's latest opus on life, the universe and everything, Biutiful, could be the answer. It's a movie that's packed with meaning, as the new trailer shows, and one that's guaranteed to make you think - in between the odd bout of uncontrollable weeping.
Propelled by a towering performance from Javier Bardem as a man struggling with demons, physical and otherwise, **Biutiful **is set in the back streets, warehouses and tenements of a Barcelona that's a universe away from the Gaudi-inspired splendour we're used to.
The location - Iñárritu's first shoot in Spain - may be different but the Mexican director's interests, clashing cultures and uncontrollable twists of fate, are present and correct. It's his first Spanish-language film since Amores Perros and sees him pair up with Bardem for the kind of actor/director partnership that seems written in the stars.
The plot concerns a conflicted man Uxbal (Bardem), an underworld figure and devoted single dad, who battles to reconcile his morality with his life choices. And it's not a great spoiler to say that his mortality is also on the line. Click below to check out the new promo poster.
You don't watch an Iñárritu film for the light relief, but Biutiful is another powerful and moving effort from the man behind Babel. It'll in a cinema near you from January 28.