Customer Reviews

Dust

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

DUST is your typical western set in rebellious, turn-of-the-last-century Macedonia, with the two western heroes portrayed by a British and an Australian actor; equally typical is the interwoven story of a modern day burglar falling in love with his nonagenarian victim while occasionally tearing her apartment apart in a search for hidden gold. Okay, maybe "love" is too strong a word. Let's call it a sympathetic bond.
As a story about storytelling DUST is much more successful than it is as either a period western or a modern crime thriller. I enjoyed its quirky, skitterish ways (with emphasis on the word "quirky.") Fans of spaghetti westerns should get a kick out of the over-the-top, exploding blood pellet fight scenes, with Turkish Nationals replacing Federales as the army that couldn't shoot straight.

It's like this...I originally bought this movie because I had seen David Wenham in LotR, thought he was very nice looking, and got this film hoping for further opportunities to stare into his limpid blue eyes and gaze at his pout. What actually happened was that I was sucked into this movie on its own merits, and ended up very impressed with it. Some reviews say that it is difficult to follow - in my own estimation I reckon that the first time you watch this you take in most of the functional bits of information (and maybe marvel at the nice shots), but you will feel confused/cheated by the numerous un-subtitled speech that is included in the dialogue. My suggestion, watch the movie again with the DVD subtitles turned on. Suddenly, all the foreign language dialogue is revealed to you and you will a: see a whole different layer to the film that the director clearly intended only to reveal to people who were curious enough to translate all the languages being spoken, b: suddenly understand a couple of things you might not have done and c: appreciate your first viewing and the general confusion of the 'hero' in the midst of all this dialogue that he didn't understand.

That doesn't mean you should watch it the first time around with subtitles. Please don't. I suspect that will spoil everything.

Summary: Very clever. Much respect to the director. A good film to watch if you like films that challenge you a bit.

(...)

Dust is a dynamic mixture of love & hate, attack & defense, power & helplessness, reality & fantasy, lust & rejection, expectations & cruel reality, belief & skepticism, boiled all together in a furnace up in the Macedonian highlands, powered by unimaginable greed for gold and power. It is an adventure which will take you back in time, when people could loose everything in a split second, and then back in present, just enough to help you re-evaluate what you have just seen with today's sense and criteria... Real artistic refreshment from the all-present commercial & worthless Hollywood plastic. Five thumbs up for this excellent movie from Milcho Manchevski!

This is not a film that will appeal to everyone. It is long and complicated with several plots going on at once centered around a central story. Nice imagery, beautiful settings and an interesting story all around. The dialogue is very well done, geniune, witty, and well thought out. The two plots (one which takes place in our present and one that takes place in the 1900's)relate well to each other. The main charaters in both plots are well aligned as the grow togther over the course of the movie. This is a complicated feat for any movie to pull off but the director did it flawlessly, even merging the two characters into the same plot at the end. Brilliant work of art and film making.

How to begin.... I purchased this movie looking to find other films starring David Wenham (besides LOTR) and was truly blown away. The style of the film was quite unexpected and the way the story unfolds was completely original. (I don't want to give antyhing away!) This movie is difficult to categorize - it's not your typical western, not your typical family drama, not a typical anything. The acting is superb, especially David Wenham. While there isn't a huge amount of dialogue in his scenes, he is able to convey such a range of emotions with is face and body language that he doesn't have to say anything. The relationships in the film are gritty and real and the violence, while significant, doesn't seem overdone - it's appropriate for the tone of the movie and the life the characters lead. The cinematography is breathtaking - Manchevski's story and directing are gritty and beautiful at once and David Wenham is raw, harsh, ruthless and, of course, stunning!

OK, obviously some of the people writing the reviews here don't know a thing about the history of the Balkan region, and most of them don't care, so they condemn the movie as a bad, bloody or nuisance, but in fact, this people have no clue what they are talking about.

I can say this movie is full of emotions, full of realistic facts and real scenes... As far as I can see some people asked where is the movie happening?!? I mean, c'mon... if you give this movie a chance to take you places, you should know where it's taking you: The great little country Macedonia. And if you want to see a part of Macedonian history from the turn of the century, well this is it, and it's as real as it gets, although there are things even more horrible than what is shown in this movie that the Ottoman Empire soldiers were doing to the people. So enjoy the agony (as some people called the horrific scenes) and learn from the history...
I would say you need to watch this movie not with a bag of popcorn in your lap, nor with a bunch of buddies around trying to make themselves interesting, you need to see this movie with an open mind.

We bought this movie because we saw trailers for it. BUT the trailers were wayyyy amazing. The movie left sooo much to be desired. The first 15 minutes of the movie is kind of humourus. However I could have done with out the full on sex scene in the first 5 minutes of it. I mean it definately wasnt needed. Watching gramma lecture and hold a gun on him at the burglar was a hoot, but the movie line was so lame I actually turned it off. It just had nothing that made me want to watch more. I think I will burn it because I wont waste anyone elses time with it!

I picked this up because I recognized the stars and because, according to the dust jacket, the director had done some worthy work in the past.
I didn't mind jumping from here to there with only a gossamer thread to cling to. I'm not generally opposed to body count. I thought the suckling sucking tobacco was gratuitous, but that's me. I guess the point there was: 'this ain't Kansas', morals and values were completely different.
One thing this movie taught me: watch the 'extras' first, a thing I have mostly avoided. The director's explanation of his intent made the movie make sense.
I will buy this movie, what's more I will buy another to give as a gift.

Great story of mixing The West and The East , in the manner of the faboulos macedonian director Milco Mancevski.Eventhough he has been educated in the USA, the euro scent is just unbeatable.The time is beggining of the 20th century, protagonits are basicly one 'new world' gunner, and a tough local rebel ... both with no common needs or intentions ...seemingly.On one hand this movie so historical, but at the other, more important one , is so modern.Watch this movie once, and it will hunt you to watch it twice ...or at leste it will force you thinking of it:)

Finding and trying out DUST from my local Blockbuster was like finding a piece of gold. If you like classic style spagetti westerns in the same vein as Clint Eastwood and Sergei Leone - then this one's for you.

I don't know who this Polish-sounding-like named director is, but he and his film crew managed to make one hellava one-of-a-kind western.

And it shows from the get-go. Starting out in modern-day New York, DUST is a tale that unfolds with twists and turns that will keep you watching on, wondering where this is all leading, and how this strange old woman has possession of old artifacts, from an old pistol to gold coins.

And how does she know about the life and tale of who they belonged to? An American cowboy gunslinger who left America, traveling to foreign shores and making history out of his destiny.

The look and feel of the film is phenomenal, gritty and lovely in a myriad of ways. The overall details was not lost in the making, thus pointing out to me the director's awesome vision for this film.

Sure there were a few things that could have been better, but still in all, DUST was truly unique, and well worth a look at. Somewhat unforgettable in some ways.