Guess Duncan Jones Wasn’t Kidding About MUTE Being His Sci-Fi CASABLANCA

There was a moment when it seemed like Mute - Duncan Jones' follow-up to his cult sci-fi hit, Moon - was somehow getting lost in the Netflix shuffle (as is the streaming giant's habit of manufacturing/snatching up titles and then sitting on them). But suddenly, we've been blessed with a bevy trailers and posters, including this little beauty, which draws from Jones' main inspiration for the picture:

Jones has long maintained - via interviews and press materials - that Mute is his futuristic Casablanca. Even the official synopsis sounds like it's lookin' at you, kid: 

"Berlin. Forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Alexander Skarsgard), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Paul Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most."

Word on the street regarding Mute has been less than favorable, with many critics struggling to get review copies (or being outright denied access), and the ones who have seen it saying it's borderline unwatchable. That's a real shame, as the picture looks to be quite the weird, ambitious little project. 

Guess we'll all finally find out once Netflix drops the movie on February 23rd.