S.

"He arrived knowing nothing of himself. Who is he? Soon he will know, because what begins at the water shall end there – and what ends there once more begin. This is what happens: Men become lost; men vanish; men are erased and reborn."

In August a mysterious teaser trailer appeared on Youtube titled "Stranger". All that was known was that it was the trailer to an upcoming movie by J.J. Abrams. But now the meaning behind the minute-long video has been revealed!

 The trailer, depicted entirely in black and white, shows a man being washed up upon a beach at night. A figure holding a lantern then approaches the camera and the face of a man with his lips sewn shut emerges. The text "Soon he will know" then appears. Each word then disappears one-by-one until only the word "Soon" remains; the final taunt of the tease.

 Overlain this is a monologue of a man speaking the above speech. It has now been revealed that this is a reference to the fictitious novel "S." by Doug Dorst. Abrams has adapted "S." into a movie with the assistance of Dorst. In the novel, a woman finds a book (Ship of Theseus) left by a stranger. In the margins the stranger has left a myriad of margin notes. She responds with notes of her own, replacing the book to where she found it to begin an unlikely conversation.

 The real question is, can this project live up to the remaining mysteries that us mere mortals can't resist?

MM