Dust

These days it is rare for a film to have a freshness about it. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing good out there. It’s just that all plots, themes and story lines have been done to death. The appearance of originality comes from an artist’s personal touch. To Dust (2018) contains familiar elements, but also is very different from most fare. I watched it last night courtesy of Netflix. It’s the story of a middle age orthodox cantor whose beloved wife has succumbed to cancer. He has nightmares about her decomposition and is fearful it’s not going well. He finds no comfort in consultations with his rabbi. He turns to a bumbling, at first reluctant, community college science instructor, a fan of Jethro Tull. Eventually they undertake an experiment with a pig, burying it to study what happens. It proves unsatisfying. It seems the narrative has only one way to go. Would it dare? The pair are played expertly by Hungary’s Giza Rohrig and Matthew Broderick. They have great rapport. The story straddles the line between black comedy and existentialism, and advances into the macabre, the creepy. In this my 69th year, I think about death quite a bit, especially given the passing of many in my circle, several quite younger than me, and that of people in the news. To Dust brings that to the forefront, the cold reality of eventually being reabsorbed into the ecosystem, which I find unsavory and is one of the reasons I prefer cremation. This was Shawn Snyder’s first full length film after five shorts, an impressive debut. He had experience editing and in sound mixing. He co-wrote the screenplay with writer/director Jason Begue. Their careers seem to be mirroring each other’s. 420 users at IMDb have rated To Dust, forging to a consensus of 5.6 on a scale of ten, much too low in my opinion. On a scale of five, I say four. Its release was limited and, from the numbers I found on the web, I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to whether it covered the cost of production, which probably wasn’t much, unless Broderick demanded his usual compensation. It’s not the type of movie that generates a large financial return. It is an attempt at art, though not arty or pretentious. There is a lot of profanity. Its appeal is restricted to those who seek something different. I’m glad I rented it. Here are the leads in character:

Universal has caved to pressure and taken The Hunt out of release. That’s not good. Whatever a work’s politics is, I prefer to know where its creators stand.

From nypost.com, edited by yours truly: McDonald’s caved to pressure from environmentalists and experimented with paper straws in its UK outlets. The new straws quickly got too soggy to use. 51,000 people signed a petition demanding the return of the plastic ones. Mickey D’s decided to make the paper ones thicker — but they’re not recyclable. The old plastic ones were 100% recyclable. Back to the drawing board.

Will Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide take a lot of politicians, moguls and celebrities off the hook? Let the conspiracy theories begin.

From foxnews.com, edited by yt: Bill Maher doesn’t believe America and the Constitution will survive a second Trump term, so he’s hoping for a recession that will prevent the President’s re-election. I’d bet there are a lot of leftists who are hoping that even more violence will bring about the same result. Maher, a multimillionaire, will be comfy cozy if a recession occurs. I understand why liberals want Trump gone. The stuff about him being a threat to the constitution is baffling. He’s governed like a strict interpreter. Maybe his opponents are referring to their vision of how that amazing historical document should be interpreted. Or maybe I’m just too dumb to see the obvious.

My thanks to Danny, who bought 14 works of non-fiction across a wide spectrum that included The Essential Noam Chomsky; and also to the woman and man who each purchased a book in Russian.

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