Alicia
I love this movie so much
Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Kirandeep Yoder
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
joerospopo
This abomination reminded me of Heaven's Gate -- not the film, just the feeling of sitting through it.What starts out interesting and promising degenerates into pointless, unfathomable mush. However, the fact that the two lead actors wail and shriek a lot does seem a clever way to disguise that (1) they are British w/appropriate accents and (2) the script is inane.I need to write some more lines, but that would just waste words so I will repeat paragraph 2:What starts out interesting and promising degenerates into pointless, unfathomable mush. However, the fact that the two lead actors wail and shriek a lot does seem a clever way to disguise that (1) they are British w/appropriate accents and (2) the script is inane.The director hasn't worked since 2010. This probably does not include his janitorial work, for which he is eminently qualified.What a mess!
fcrs74
I do not understand why people try to comprehend this movie as a real-life story, because there are many "hints" telling viewers not to do so - photographs with characters from different epochs together, modern airplane flying over Macedonia at the beginning of twentieth century, etc. - even the sarcastic homage to spaghetti-western tradition ("hero" killing six or seven people with a single bullet)... In my opinion, it should be viewed as a story about human souls, their connection through time and space, about human fate, where main character, although ill-natured, was "sent by destiny" to a far-away land to do the good deed of his life (Elijah's decision to save life of Macedonian rebel's child at the end of the movie looks more like being driven by some irrational then rational force).The movie also has its point picturing the way westerns see (and saw) Balkan area - as a confusing battleground where everyone have there objectively justifiable reasons to think they are right - making the whole picture far from "black and white". Still, the "western people" come to do their own business (collect the gold), but end up in a completely different connection with people and territory... Personally, I did not like characters of Edge and Angela, in my opinion they are built as clichés with no good reason. On the other hand, characters of two cowboys, as well as Turkish gang-soldiers and Corto Maltese (comic-book figure well known in Europe), built as stereotypes, perfectly fill the sarcastic, humorous attitude of Filmmaker on profane observance of life...
nixar55
Firstly, I'm a huge David Wenham fan. Didn't read anything about the plot before renting it. I was really surprised by the film's beginning, having no cowboys or Macedonians in sight. This was an interesting Rashomon-like tale, but I really didn't care for two of the storytellers - the old lady and the burglar. I think the story would've worked better just told from the two brothers point of view; no silly subplot about gangsters and gold coins.Joseph Fiennes is hardly in the movie, and when he is, he mostly quotes the Bible in a horrid accent. David Wenham's American accent was even worse. For me to say anything negative about Wenham...it must be really bad. He also screamed in anguish at the sky so much I could only think "Mendooooza!" (from the Simpsons' "McBain" movies). Visually, this film was very beautiful, not just because of a handsome lead either, but very engaging use of colors, costumes and landscape. The way images from the past and future collided was very cool. The gun-fight scenes were well choreographed, and pretty damn bloody. Perhaps that's why I found the old lady's section less interesting - less action, less exotic locations.A few laughs, a few gasps, a bit of sex, a lot of violence, but just too thin of a story. If you arrange the brothers' tale minus the gimmicky time-jumps, the movie would be about an hour long, not 2+ hours. I can't figure why the director didn't just fatten the characters and context of their story and tell it straight through. This is a movie about storytelling, but viewers need a better story. And David Wenham deserves a better movie. Preferably one where he can speak more naturally.
the_artist_formerly_known_as
After having read some reviews of 'Dust' I was not sure if I wanted to see it or not. However, the "David Wenham infatuation" prevailed in the end, and I went as far as to actually purchase the film. It was money well spent, you could say. While the movie would not appeal to general audiences, it left me awestruck. I ended up watching it again, on the same night."Wow" is how I describe feeling after the credits rolled (the first and the second time). I don't want to spoil anything for those who have not seen the movie, so I'll just stick to my reactions to it. There was laughter, there were tears, there might have been an "eww" once or twice, there were definitely lustful thoughts of David Wenham (he's rather cute, you know). Acting was superb, though I'd like a few words with the 'dialect coach' (hint: the leads are not American). All in all, a great movie. I highly recommend seeing it at least once.
