featuring @mubi
Fred Hechinger and Kit Connor confront family tensions, grief, and questions of identity in the trailer for A Long Winter, a drama set in the Colorado mountains during the 1950s. As a family prepares for the brutal winter ahead, their lives take an unexpected turn when their mother mysteriously disappears, exposing the emotional fractures hidden beneath their seemingly stable home life.
Written and directed by Andrew Haigh, the film is based on a short story by Colm Tóibín. The cast also includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Caitríona Balfe. Through its intimate portrayal of a family in crisis, the drama explores sexuality, identity, loss, and the expectations that influence relationships between parents and children.
The trailer opens with the family preparing for the approaching winter in their remote mountain home. Hechinger stars as Mike, a shy young man who continues to live with his family, while Connor portrays his brother, Tommy, who is preparing to leave for military service during the Korean War.
Their lives are upended when their mother, Louise, disappears during the season’s first blizzard. As the search stretches on for weeks, Mike clings to the hope that she will return, even as uncertainty surrounding her disappearance grows. The prolonged absence intensifies the pressure on a family already struggling with unresolved conflicts and emotional distance.
Much of the tension centers on the complicated relationship between Mike and his father, Lester. In one exchange featured in the trailer, Lester reflects on the difficulties his wife experienced after moving to the area, saying, “It wasn’t easy for your ma to come over here. We made a great home, though.”
His words reveal his belief that the family built a good life despite the challenges they faced. Mike, however, sees their shared history differently. “This was your dream. Not hers,” he responds, questioning whether his father’s vision of a successful family ever accounted for his mother’s own hopes and desires.
Meanwhile, Mike’s emerging sexuality adds another layer to his journey toward adulthood. As he begins to better understand himself, he must also contend with his father’s expectations and the emotional barriers separating them. His search for personal identity unfolds alongside the uncertainty surrounding his mother’s disappearance, making an already difficult period of his life even more complicated.
Filmed in the Canadian Rockies, A Long Winter uses its vast, snow-covered landscapes to reinforce the family’s isolation and emotional uncertainty. Against this stark backdrop, the film examines how grief and absence can expose long-standing divisions, challenge deeply held beliefs, and reshape the bonds between loved ones.
Through Mike’s coming-of-age journey, the drama presents a portrait of a family forced to confront the difference between the life they believe they have built and the truths they may have overlooked.
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