Watch The First Trailer For The Souvenir: Part II
"The Souvenir," released in 2019, starred Honor Swinton Byrne, in her second-ever film role (via IMDB) as Julie, a college student studying film in London. Amidst her studies, she enters into a romantic relationship with Anthony (Tom Burke). Before too long, Anthony and Julie are sharing an apartment with one another. Anthony is far from an ideal roommate or partner, however. He leaves on sudden vacations and his arms are full of what Julie doesn't recognize to be track marks. Eventually Julie learns of Anthony's heroin addiction, but he continues to hide it from her, even after stealing some of her valuable jewelry to flip for drug money. Naturally, her troubles with Anthony don't end there, continuing for much of the film's story.
As noted in numerous write-ups for the film, including writer Monica Castillo's review for RogerEbert.com, "The Souvenir" is a semi-autobiographical work, inspired by the real life of director Joanna Hogg. A sequel to "The Souvenir" has been in the works ever since: Hogg initially conceived of the story of "The Souvenir" as spanning two films, so releasing a sequel has, more or less, always been the plan.
Now a full trailer for "The Souvenir: Part II" is available, providing film viewers at large with their first look at the next phase of Julie's filmmaking career.
Julie's back
The new trailer for "The Souvenir: Part II" opens on Julie meeting with her mother Rosalind, portrayed by Honor Swinton Byrne's real-life mother — and recent semi-recluse — Tilda Swinton. From there, much of the rest of the trailer focuses on Julie as a filmmaker, a marked contrast to the story of the first film which foregrounded a romance with her filmmaking aspirations as its backdrop.
The cast of "The Souvenir: Part II," listed at the end of the trailer, includes the return of Richard Ayoade as Patrick and Ariane Labed as Garance, in addition to newcomers Jaygann Ayeh, James Spencer Ashworth, Harris Dickinson, Joe Alwyn, and Charlie Heaton (missing is Robert Pattinson, who dropped out of the film due to its schedule conflicting with the making of "Tenet.")
"The Souvenir: Part II" premiered at Cannes in July, and reviews were largely positive. For example, Nate Jones wrote for Vulture that the sequel is "funnier than the original, and looser, too." David Ehrlich, in a review for Indie Wire, called the film "an extraordinary work of meta-fiction" and awarded it an A grade.
While the end of the trailer simply promises that the film is "coming soon," the description for the video on distributor A24's YouTube channel lists the film's release date as October 29.