Dust (2001)

Two parallel tales of redemption, a century apart. A burglar is held at gunpoint and forced to listen to a story. At the turn of the 20th Century, two brothers feud over a woman. She ... See full summary »

Director:

Milcho Manchevski

Writer:

Milcho Manchevski

Stars:

Joseph Fiennes, David Wenham, Adrian Lester

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joseph Fiennes	...	Elijah
David Wenham	...	Luke
Adrian Lester	...	Edge
Anne Brochet	...	Lilith
Nikolina Kujaca	...	Neda
Rosemary Murphy	...	Angela
Vlado Jovanovski	...	Teacher
Salaetin Bilal	...	The Major
Vera Farmiga	...	Amy
Matt Ross	...	Stitch
Meg Gibson	...	Bone
Tamer Ibrahim	...	Kemal
Vladimir Jacev	...	Spase
Vladimir Gjorgjijoski	...	Enver
Zora Georgieva	...	Maslina

Storyline

Two parallel tales of redemption, a century apart. A burglar is held at gunpoint and forced to listen to a story. At the turn of the 20th Century, two brothers feud over a woman. She marries one; the other, Luke, a deadly gunslinger, becomes a soldier of fortune in Macedonia, and gets embroiled in a local revolution. He's after money. Wounded by his brother, he's nursed by a pregnant villager who urges him to "kill for good, not for gold." A dying old woman in modern Manhattan tells Luke's story; her listener is Edge, a young thief who's burgled her flat to pay off crooked cops who can send him to jail. He listens with the desperate hope that he'll find gold that he thinks she has. The stories intersect when Edge sorts out the old woman's surprising connection to Luke.

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Plot Keywords:

black and white scene | watching television | skinny dipping | barefoot woman | old woman | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sequences of strong violence, sexual content and language

Details

Country:

UK Germany Italy Republic of Macedonia

Language:

English Macedonian German Turkish

Release Date:

5 April 2002 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Прах

Filming Locations:

Cologne, Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alta Films, British Screen Productions, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Opening film of the 2001 Venice Film Festival.

User Reviews

A Story like Memory

It's easy to miss what DUST does with the Western's clichés. The movie is a kind of rumination in modern, international terms on THE WILD BUNCH, with some problems (e.g., Joseph Fiennes's Southern accent and arguably too many bloodbaths) and with some remarkable achievements. Chief among these is Manchevski's managing to keep several threads hanging because he pays us the compliment of assuming that we are paying attention, waiting for culmination, like the youngster who finally proves to be the movie's protagonist. We need very few details to make the important connections. The lad is a low-class thief in hock to dirty cops; he confronts an old broad far tougher than he is, who sees his resemblance to the Luke of her memory, a mercenary cowboy who found it easier to kill than love. As she begins a sharp-witted decline to death, she tells Luke's story. The story is full of traps. We think Luke fled to Macedonia because he loves the prostitute his sinister, found-again brother (Fiennes) has married. But Luke and his life are more complicated than that, as we gradually learn, circling through past, present, and the minds of several participants. Manchevski values images, cutting to the old lady's photos from the past, mixing times and spaces within the frame. He insists that we are watching the old lady's story, not even a pretense at reality. At last the youngster takes up the challenge and Luke redeems himself in a final confrontation whose truth is in fiction's need to resolve the central issue: here, that memory is a story which makes time come round to emphasize the dark ironies and pains from which we keep trying to protect ourselves.