Back in the before-times, there was a thing called the Sundance Film Festival, where people from all over the globe would come to Utah and watch small movies about regular people trying to achieve their dreams. One of the standouts from last Sundance (not the last Sundance) was The Forty-Year-Old Version, the debut feature from writer/director/star Radha Blank. (Lena Waithe produced.) Blank plays a fictionalized version of herself, a once-promising playwright stressed from navigating her day job, white gatekeepers, and turning 40. So what does she do? Start rapping, of course! It’s an unintentional rebuttal to the idea that New York could ever be “dead,†shot in 35mm black-and-white as an homage to Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It. (Blank worked as a writer on the Netflix remake.)
Besides receiving rave reviews, the film earned Blank the directing prize at the festival’s U.S. dramatic comeptition, as well as this year’s Sundance Vanguard Award, previously given to Lulu Wang and Boots Riley. Vulture is pleased to present your exclusive first look at the movie’s new trailer (above) and poster (below). The Forty-Year-Old Version starts streaming on Netflix October 9.
