Romance can mean various things to various people, but the trailer for American Cherry shows a troubled boy interpreting romance differently. Set in American suburbia, the upcoming psychological thriller stars Hart Denton and Sarah May Sommers as they dip their toes into romance, all while trying to make sense of the world and the underlying issues they've been concealing all along.
Described as "Romeo & Juliet meets Badlands," the trailer for the psychological coming-of-age film focuses on Finn Elliot (Denton) showing no interest in attending school. He was holding a knife, seemingly foreshadowing what was about to happen. Although the trailer did not reveal much about what the upcoming movie will be about—apart from Finn's developing relationship with his love interest Eliza Stein (Sommers) and his sweet gesture of filming a video diary about her—the trailer did highlight a mysterious and distraught young man ready to do anything for his partner, even if it means going against what is morally right.
Struggling to calm himself down, the trailer ends with a clip of a little boy, who appears to be a younger version of Finn, soaking in a bathtub. The story of American Cherry will revolve around the intricate relationship between Finn and Eliza, with the former trying to protect the latter from her dysfunctional family. With a film focusing on an untreated mental health issues, American Cherry joins a slew of films that discuss how one's mind can define romance differently.
Denton is no stranger to psychological thrillers, having played Chic Cooper, Riverdale's recurring antagonist as well as the series' main antagonist in the third season. Sommers, on the other hand, appeared in several features, including American Siege, Through April, Cosmic Sin, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The rest of the cast includes Leonor Varela, Matty Cardarople, Larsen Thompson, Ava Torres, Audrey Holcomb, Hanna Griffiths, and Brie-Azsã Lawrence, among others.
Marcella Cytrynowicz wrote and directed American Cherry, with Taryn Sims, Jadyn Arriola, and Hanna Griffiths serving as the film's producers. The upcoming psychological thriller will premiere on March 17, with the film's distributor, Buffalo 8, bringing it to several streaming platforms, including Apple TV, Vudu, Google, and Amazon.
You can watch the trailer and read the film's official synopsis below.
“American Cherry is a psychological thriller-romance about a mysterious, troubled boy (Denton) who meets an impressionable girl (Sommers) in their small town. Together they embark on a romance where his love turns into obsession as he tries to protect her from her dysfunctional family — he makes her a video diary that confesses an intricate story of love, mental illness, and the tragic consequences if left untreated.”
