THE trailer for 21 year old writer-director Keyvan Sheikhalishahi’s third major film, Divertimento, just dropped… and it looks rather interesting. Sheikhalishahi has directed two other shorts with Amitice, the French production company. His short films Nox (2019) and Vesper (2017) clock in at 13min and 23min respectively, and both boast respectable IMDB scores. Divertimento represents the young director’s fourth attempt at the thriller genre (he filmed Turba (2014) independently with his family), and this time he significantly boosted the cast.

Divertimento features Kellan Lutz (Twilight), Torrey DeVitto (Chicago Med), Ola Rapace (Skyfall), Götz Otto (Cloud Atlas), Christian Hillborg (Fleabag), Ellie Heydon (Harlots), and Brittany Gonzales (Kellan Lutz’s wife). It tells the story of Jonas Olsen (Kellan Lutz), a chess player with a tragic past who must now participate in a mysterious game, Divertimento. With this many notable actors, Divertimento seems poised to act as the next step for Sheikhalishahi’s directing career.

Unfortunately, the recently released trailer will not be kick-starting that professional development. This first trailer sets up some intrigue and introduces the standard cliché chess metaphor, but the editing does it no favors. The juxtaposition of dramatic music with shots and dialogue clips more so belonging on a daytime soap opera creates an uncanny effect.

There seems to be promise lurking beneath the questionable trailer editing, but it is regrettable that Divertimento’s potential could not be on full display here. Hopefully Sheikhalishahi’s latest venture proves worthwhile, but we will have to wait until later this year to find out.