The music video director behind work for Kendrick Lamar and SZA brings his renamed debut, starring David Schwimmer and Dominic Fike, to streaming.
Jack Begert has spent the last decade making some of the most distinctive music videos in the business, working with Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Childish Gambino, Flying Lotus and Olivia Rodrigo. Now his first feature is finally getting a release.
MUBI has dropped the official trailer for Junk, Begert’s darkly comic Los Angeles odyssey starring David Schwimmer, Dominic Fike and Talia Ryder, which streams exclusively on the platform starting Oct. 23.
From ‘Little Death’ to ‘Junk’
If the title is new to you, there is a reason. The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival as Little Death, playing in the festival’s NEXT section, where Begert won the NEXT Innovator Award. It split critics at the time, which is often what happens when a director arrives with a style this unmistakable. Nearly three years later, MUBI is releasing it under a new name.
The setup unfolds over one night in Los Angeles. Schwimmer plays a pill-addled, middle-aged screenwriter wrestling with writer’s block and his own worst instincts. Across town, two young drifters played by Fike and Ryder search the city for a stolen car and a missing backpack, with a lost dog in tow. Their stories collide in a film MUBI describes as a slacker odyssey about two generations stuck between apathy and anxiety.
The Cast and Team
The ensemble is deep: Jena Malone, Gaby Hoffmann, Karl Glusman, Seth Green, Chase Sui Wonders, Angela Sarafyan, Fred Melamed, Ben Feldman and Travis Bennett all appear. Begert co-wrote the script with Dani Goffstein, and the producers include Darren Aronofsky and Andy Cohen.
The trailer leans hard into the film’s chaotic energy, with the jittery visual style that has made Begert a go-to director for artists who want their videos to feel like short films. Beyond music, he has directed campaigns for Apple, Converse, New Era and Reebok.
A Perfect Match with MUBI
In the past few years MUBI has become one of the most interesting homes for auteur-driven work, from its theatrical push with films like The Substance to a growing slate of exclusive streaming premieres. For a debut this idiosyncratic, a curated platform with a cinephile audience may be the ideal place to find the viewers who will love it.
Watch The Junk Trailer Below:
Junk streams on MUBI starting Friday, Oct. 23.
