Dust
Mortality and graphic slaughter are central to Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski's first film since 1994'sBefore the Rain. In modern New York a young man, Edge (Adrian Lester), breaks into an apartment inhabited by old lady Angela (Rosemary Murphy), who then tells him a story at gunpoint. In Angela's surreally symbolic tale, set around 1905, there are two feuding brothers: gunfighter Luke (David Wenham) becomes a bounty hunter in Macedonia; Bible-quoting, vengeance-seeking Elijah (Joseph Fiennes) follows, and hell goes with him.Dustis part contemporary drama, part spaghetti Western homage--with the Ottoman Empire forces standing in for the Mexican army--and all meditation on the nature of cinematic myth-making. The performances are variable, but a plethora of movie references, particularly to various Sergio Leone films,Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, andThe Wild Bunch, combine in a stylish and provocative fable that bears comparison withThe Usual SuspectsandSex and Lucia. It also echoesArarat(2002), in which a production crew makes a film about the 1915-18 Turkish genocide of the Armenians. Taken at face value the plot stretches credibility, but as a reflection on the nature of storytelling,Dustis an ingenious concoction.--Gary S. Dalkin