The usual pattern when a smallish U.S. distributor picks up a critically-praised indie at Sundance or Berlin is to bury it for several months, and then release it early (and in a way that barely catches your attention) the following year in some kind of simultaneous cable-demand-and-theatrical break. Let’s hope that Strand Releasing does better by Paddy Considine‘s Tyrannosaur, which I saw and fell in love with when I saw it last month at Sundance.

Strand’s Jon Gerrans and Marcus Hu have just acquired the British-made drama in Berlin. Please guys…don’t bury it. Don’t make it seem so minor and marginal that nobody will care when it peeps out like a mouse in early ’12. Try and release it Harvey-style sometime this year. People like me will support this film with real passion if you do. But if you wait until next year the gas will be out of the tank.

My Sundance quote: “The most original adult love story I’ve seen in ages, and a drama that deals almost nothing but surprise cards — a tough story of discipline, redemption and wounded love. Cheers to director-writer Considine for making something genuine and extra-unique. He’s not just an actor who’s branched into directing with a special facility for coaxing good performances — he’s a world-class director who knows from shaping, cutting, timing, holding back and making it all come together. Powerful performances from Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan are one reason that it curiously touches.”