Post by Nora on Jan 31, 2019 17:39:52 GMT
I saw a very unique movie yesterday. Its called To Dust and its a debut movie of Shawn Snyder, who was at the screening and talked about how the movie got made.
The movie is essentially a think piece on mourning, but it is presented through a lens of extremely dark comedy. Its pretty minimalistic, with most of it consisting of two people talking about dead bodies and their decay (this is not an exaggeration) but the funny writing and great casting is what makes it a real treat.
The role of Shmuel, an orthodox jewish man who had recently lost his wife and doesnt handle her passing well is played by the amazing Geza Rohrig whom you probably know from the oscar winning movie, Son of Saul. Geza apparently grew a long beard for this role and had it for quite the long time, to the upset of his agents who were wanting him to be able to accept other roles that would require him to shave. But Geza fell in love with the script of To Dust and was really committed to it.
His counterpart in the movie is Matthew Broderick. He plays a biology teacher who helps Shmuel understand how human bodies decay after death, but he plays it with such a delightfully jovial yet scatterbrain spin, that it felt like Alvy Singer meets The Dude and provided for a lots of laughs.
The two embark on a journey that is both horrific and extremely funny to watch and that explores judaism without being preachy (if anything it borders on insulting but in a very funny way) but also mourning and science related to decay. Which certainly is a pretty odd but hilarious composition if you think about it.
The director talked about how his mothers death inspired him to write the script (he made sure we understood he didnt actually do what Shmuel does in the movie) and talked about it so openly, that it made me cry. I think for anyone who has ever lost a family member this movie offers and extra relatable layer.
Warning: it includes one or two very unpleasant (although superbly animated) images to watch. I wish someone had warned me, honestly, it may haunt me in my dreams. and I dont consider my self squeamish. So for those of you who are squeamish or don't like gory images, please do yourself a favor and close your eyes when they first say toenail.
When To Dust comes to the cinema near you go and enjoy. It has beautiful music and it looks wonderful on a big screen and its movies like this we, film fans, really should support.
Ps - you do not have to be jewish or even partial to jews to enjoy this movie.
The movie is essentially a think piece on mourning, but it is presented through a lens of extremely dark comedy. Its pretty minimalistic, with most of it consisting of two people talking about dead bodies and their decay (this is not an exaggeration) but the funny writing and great casting is what makes it a real treat.
The role of Shmuel, an orthodox jewish man who had recently lost his wife and doesnt handle her passing well is played by the amazing Geza Rohrig whom you probably know from the oscar winning movie, Son of Saul. Geza apparently grew a long beard for this role and had it for quite the long time, to the upset of his agents who were wanting him to be able to accept other roles that would require him to shave. But Geza fell in love with the script of To Dust and was really committed to it.
His counterpart in the movie is Matthew Broderick. He plays a biology teacher who helps Shmuel understand how human bodies decay after death, but he plays it with such a delightfully jovial yet scatterbrain spin, that it felt like Alvy Singer meets The Dude and provided for a lots of laughs.
The two embark on a journey that is both horrific and extremely funny to watch and that explores judaism without being preachy (if anything it borders on insulting but in a very funny way) but also mourning and science related to decay. Which certainly is a pretty odd but hilarious composition if you think about it.
The director talked about how his mothers death inspired him to write the script (he made sure we understood he didnt actually do what Shmuel does in the movie) and talked about it so openly, that it made me cry. I think for anyone who has ever lost a family member this movie offers and extra relatable layer.
Warning: it includes one or two very unpleasant (although superbly animated) images to watch. I wish someone had warned me, honestly, it may haunt me in my dreams. and I dont consider my self squeamish. So for those of you who are squeamish or don't like gory images, please do yourself a favor and close your eyes when they first say toenail.
When To Dust comes to the cinema near you go and enjoy. It has beautiful music and it looks wonderful on a big screen and its movies like this we, film fans, really should support.
Ps - you do not have to be jewish or even partial to jews to enjoy this movie.
