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Rating:  - IT'S THE STORY OF A YOUNG WRITER WHO WRITES ABOUT A YOUNG WRITER WHO...
Writer-director Robert Towne is responsible for a few first-class screenplays of the last thirty years. For example, he wrote or co-wrote Roman Polanski's Chinatown, Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza and Jack Nicholson's The Two Jakes. Not bad, isn't it ?
I had read the novels of John Fante a few years ago and liked them a lot. Arturo Bandini, John Fante's literary double, is a character one doesn't forget easily and the description of the post WWI Los Angeles was particularly shabby. Now, in my opinion, Robert Towne's movie perfectly describes the mood of that period and the difficulties met by the Americans of the first generation to obtain the right and the opportunity to enjoy the American dream. ASK THE DUST is not a masterpiece but provides for the movie buff a kind of pleasure that starts to become more and more uncommon nowadays: the feeling to have been considered as an adult by the director.
A DVD it would be a shame to look down upon.
Rating:  - Salma Hayek is delicious. The rest of the movie... not so much.
Ask the Dust (Robert Towne, 2006)
While Ask the Dust is not the travesty I was expecting it to be, I can't say I was overly impressed with it, either. Colin Farrell's take on Arturo Bandini just never really clicked for me (more than once I wondered what Robert Downey, Jr., would've made of the role), though Salma Hayek does a fine job reminding me why I was so excited whenever a movie she was in showed up on the screen a decade or so ago. Donald Sutherland, on the other hand, is almost thoroughly wasted here; one wonders how many of his scenes ended up left on the cutting room floor, because I can't imagine an actor of his caliber taking a role so small and so incidental to the story. Other small oddities surface (why is it that the landlady, so dead set against Bandini having women in his room, never comes pounding on the door during his 4AM screaming fights with them?). One gets the feeling this should have been a much longer movie with a great deal more detail, but it's unlikely we'll ever get a chance to find out. ** ½
Rating:  - good movie, worth a watch
I think "Ask the Dust" succeeds as a film in that it gets the viewer emtoionally involved and suspends disbelief. The movie was not bad, and it was in fact great. The filming and sets were very authentic. But it was the acting that made the movie good. Salma Hayek proved that she is an artist by displaying her skill as an actress. She was fiesty and at times mean, but also vulnerable and loving. Colin Farrell also proved he is a good actor as he captured the character so well: he displayed fears and hopes at the same time. Those people that think the relationship was just abuse are wrong. They were two strong willed people that hadn't opened up to the right person until they found eachother. It was great to see them thawing throughout the movie and change from hard of heart people to the end when they admit their fears and the love they have for eachother. Salma and Colin are underrated as actors. Watch this movie to provoke thoughts about human weakness and strength and to see a social commentary asking what it means to be an American in the melting-pot U.S.
*****/***** Beautifully filmed, acted, etc...
Rating: - Wonderful movie!
This has to be one of Colin Farrell's best performaces! He plays a 1st generation Italian in 1933. The director of this film made everything so authentic! Even down to how they walked back then. You'll see. :)
Really great movie! I enjoyed it more than the book! I'm very glad that I added it to my DVD collection!
Rating: - A quirky movie, and I liked it!
This is a beautiful movie and may not be for everyone (read the reviews). Colin and Selma do a wonderful job ... and I thought Sutherland's alcoholic added depth to the movie.
Yes, there are disparities in the story, and people in real life (Italian, Mexican and other-wise) might not act like this, but then, spend a few years as a marriage/family counselor, and you'll probably be surprised at a lot of things about the way real people act.
A good love story...I recommend it.
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