Catching Dust is a gripping and riveting thriller which ensures that no viewer breathes without anticipation. An abused woman suffocated by an overbearing spouse in the deserts of nowhere resorts to strange people to help her escape from the oppression. Issues of domestic violence, arguments between spouses, and ulterior motives are presented in the film in a multifaceted way which can bother and surprise the viewers. The utterly open and bare outside feels a nice comparison to the claustrophobic interiors, creating an aggressive and explosive conflict with refined people looking for any hint of happiness. A dramatic conflict resolution and equally convincing resolution is perhaps a stretch but Catching Dust has to be credited for being unpredictable.
Set in West Texas on an abandoned commune, Geena Rayburne (Erin Moriarty of The Boys) sketches drawings in an old trailer. However, an intimidating cowboy, Clyde (Jai Courtney of Black Site), with an armful of dead bunnies, suddenly arrives, and Geena hurriedly covers her drawings. Geena tries to flirt with her husband in a Southern accent, but to her surprise, he is not interested. Clyde, who has nothing to do with the cooking, wants to wash up before his wife prepares supper. Geena stammers and tells Clyde that she would like to go to town with him next time he goes to restock his supplies. He says no, and we quickly get a sense of how aggressive and insufferable this couple is.
Geena gets a big shock several days later. Among the scrap materials, building a picturesque yet off grid house truck pulls up a trailer with a beautiful home in it. Andy (Ryan Corr), looking out of the car at the wide open space of dust and cactuses comes outside. His wife, Amaya (Dina Shihabi) is panicking, urging him to leave at once; this is not the place they came for. Andy approaches the door of the next trailer to look for answers. Geena ducked only to lose her head as she hurried to respond. She had not met anybody for over a year.
Writer/director Stuart Gatt manages to build both curiosity and discomfort at the same time. Andy and Amaya are rich socialites in New York who seem to be seeking each other’s company. The very bored Geena finds herself in an intoxicating world that is completely devoid of her usual surroundings. Mrs. Kellerman is trash and no real plans to get into heartwarming, Clyde on the other hand is angry and infuriated returning home to find two strangers at his house. And Clyde, her family counselor, took Andy’s magic wand under dissipation in a matter of seconds. I am afraid, even though Clyde is the one doing the intimidating. He is public property and she is making no attempts at hiding from him.
Geena’s marriage to Clyde feels increasingly imprisoning as an unrealistic alternative to the expansion of possibilities through an emotional rejuvenation from the ideas that overwhelm Geena. There comes such a twist in The Ex with a flourish: Andy is an artist. Geena lacks self-advocacy, self-love in the form of self-respect, which, not surprisingly, vliechen’s romantic partner Clyde has instilled in her. He malignantly labelled her artistic pursuits as such – a quite senseless exercise. Geena’s first fling of a paintbrush in Annie’s less than sober supervision is like the sunlight right after a torrent. She feels free within herself and is able to be risk-taking and daring without restrictions. This also makes her cage as well as Clyde all the more unbearable.
Moriarty and Courtney’s characters can never be simplified into the stereotype of spousal abuse. You are correct that he does abuse her. That is terrible and quite despicable. The narrator is unable to stop denouncing his actions. But Geena is not a punching bag. She makes it clear to Clyde that such an attitude is unwarranted. He is sorry for having caused her pain. However, the cords that tie them up are also their glory. Geena wants out of a relationship with a man that her mind refuses to give up. There exists an unease between them which cannot be discarded. The couple has a traumatic bond which is still rooted in love.
Gatt’s script has a way out and could let the characters play within the limits of the setup’s expectations. His interesting story begin suspicion on the second act offered here open—reinforces ideas about the configuration antiseptic dismembered assimilation. Everyone is not what they appear to be. All the characters have one skin but different tongue. Catching dust does not show black and white scenarios. It is the many shades of grey that bring about the undesirable that inverts the good bad imagery. Here is perhaps where Gatt takes genuine risks and goes in a direction that some will resent.
Twists aplenty shine a revealing light into the dark corners of these fascinating characters. Human and divine are the tools upon which those we elevate are constructed’s greatest fault. Better or (most likely) worse, Gatt encroaches the territory of a soap opera at times that is least sane. This hard turn has a, one might say ugly and out-of-left-field twist, that can be brought out to criticism. Dislikable elements emerge from the miasma intentionally in order to alter the way the audience perceives once-purified characters.
Catching Dust takes place literally between two trailers waiting on a dusty road which is somehow lost in a remote area. But there is never a moment when a region turns to be boring. Gatt portrays solitude, anger, hatred with the intense and gloomy colors of the winter chill. Equally he is outstanding in the role of a producer, and in particular as a director who thoughtfully and wisely resolves complex themes in screenplay. A young American filmmaker, should be on the radar of Hollywood because of his brave first feature.
Catching Dust is a project of Civilian 7 Entertainment, Edward R. Pressman Films, Cuernos Productiones S.L. and others, etc.
Watch Free Movies on Hurawatch