Trailer Blazer: 'Ratatouille,' 'Clean,' and more

Here are trailers for four movies about underground lifestyles; three are art films currently expanding into theaters across the country, and one is a ringer coming out next summer.

Ratatouille (Summer 2007) “Underground lifestyle” is literal in the case of the protagonist of this Disney/Pixar production from the mind of Brad Bird, the animator behind The Incredibles. He’s a rat (pictured) living in Paris, and he enjoys the city’s fine food, though not its knife-wielding, rodent-hating chefs. His father wonders why he can’t settle for garbage like the rest of the rats. Hard to imagine how they’ll expand this premise into a full feature, but Patton Oswalt is hilariously exasperated as the epicurian pest. Plus, Bird and Pixar are unfailingly reliable, and Disney certainly knows from animated rodents.

Brothers of the Head (July 28) Imagine Stuck on You crossed with 24-Hour Party People and you’ll have some idea of the nature of this film, a mockumentary about two British conjoined twins who become punk rock stars in the ’70s. I didn’t catch this one at the Tribeca Film Festival, but it looks strange and cool and funny in the bits shown here.

Lower City (in limited release now) Usually, I find it patronizing when foreign-language film trailers leave out the dialogue, as if hearing words that aren’t English will scare the target audience away. But in this clip, it really doesn’t matter. You can tell all you need to know about this Brazilian love triangle from the sweaty, taut bodies of its protagonists, particularly Alice Braga (costar of City of God and niece of Sonia). If you’re looking for a movie to help you beat the summer heat in an air-conditioned theater, this steamy-looking drama probably isn’t it.

Clean (in theaters now) This looks fairly grim, but I’ll go see anything that stars the iconic Maggie Cheung (Hero). Here, she’s a woman trying to stay off drugs so that she can win her son back from his paternal grandfather, played by Nick Nolte. (You know you’re in trouble when you look more ragged and dissolute than Nick Nolte.) Directing is Olivier Assayas, who made similarly stylish use of Cheung in 1996’s Irma Vep, then married her, divorced her, and wrote Clean for her. The trailer certainly looks like it’ll be a testament to resilience. Whose, I’m not sure.