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There’s a lot of movies still to come before the year winds down, and still a handful of awards season contenders that we have yet to see, but the biggest of them all is easily Martin Scorsese‘s “Silence.” Calling the director’s dream project highly anticipated is an understatement, and as we eagerly await our first glimpse of footage whenever the trailer finally arrives (my guess is that it’ll be timed to the release of Paramount‘s “Arrival“) in a couple of weeks, new images will have to do for now. But star Andrew Garfield says the story about Jesuit priests in 17th century Japan will bring a mix of textures to the table.

READ MORE: The 20 Greatest Music Moments In The Films Of Martin Scorsese

“It’s meditative and brutal simultaneously,” the actor told Fandango. “It’s a very mysterious film and I can’t quite put it into words. Every time me and Marty would try to get to the bottom of its themes and what the character is going through, we would wind up talking for two to three hours, and every time there would be five minutes of silence at the end because we had exhausted the conversation and had no answers, only more questions. Then he’d look at me and go, ‘Okay kid, until next time…’ ”

“There is a lot of violence in it, but it’s done in a very different way,” Garfield added. “It’s a very specific type of brutality that was being done reluctantly, and yet with this Japanese eloquence —it had a real seduction about it. It’s really fascinating…”

“Silence” opens in limited release on December 23rd, before going wide in January. [images via Cinema Em Cena and Yahoo Japan]