Something in the Dirt

Diverting enough flick written and directed by the stars. Two thirty-somethings, who can barely swing the monthly rent on the dives they live in, are neighbors in an apartment building. As they introduce themselves they find that perhaps they are too different to hang. Then, an ashtray starts to float in a halo of light. When they come to terms with the floating and glowing of things they realize that have to film this. This is proof of ghosts, or aliens, or afterlife, or whatever it is. They have to film it, edit it into a cohesive documentary, and get rich quick. So that's what they set out to do, aside from and around their arguments. As they argue and insult they uncover truths and each other's pain in life.

Not even sure what to make of this. I'm told this was conceived and initiated during Covid and I applaud Benson and Moorhead for keeping the creative spark alive during this difficult time. But this film, frugally shot with sparse cameras, small cast, and minimal sets, falls bizarrely flat in the second half after a promising and intriguing start. An interesting and unexplainable phenomenon occurs, which could have led to multiple potential legit sci-fi storylines. Okay, I'm hooked. But soon, the tale dissolves into confusing pseudo-science banter, and wild conspiracy theories, with a side dose of anger and paranoia. In the end, nothing is really resolved and the whole event could just as easily have been explained away as the result of a lengthy acid trip. I think I'll just say "weirdly unsatisfying" and leave it at that.

As a big fan of directors, writers, actors and all round filmmaker go-getters Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, I am convinced that one day the collaborative duo are going to deliver a feature film that makes them household names, with their latest effort Something in the Dirt not that film unfortunately.

Clearly identified within the industry as filmmakers on the up, with Marvel trusting the team with helming some of the recent Moon Knight season 1 episodes and the upcoming Loki season 2, Moorhead and Benson's bread and butter so far in an intriguing early career is cosmic horror and sci-fi with Dirt having similar DNA to their previous features which include the impressive and underseen Spring, the well-liked cult sci-fi The Endless and the interesting but sadly disappointing Anthony Mackie starring Synchronic.

Giving both Moorhead and Benson time in front of the camera as well as behind it, here playing John Daniels and Levi Danube respectively, Dirt see's the two all-rounders playing no hoper LA neighbours who find their chance to make something of their lives appearing out of nowhere when strange seemingly unexplainable happenings take place in Levi's apartment that lead the two newly formed friends creating an alliance of sorts to document what is happening, moving them forward on a journey that could be dangerous to their very mindsets.

Mixing in horror elements that are overshadowed by more prominent sci-fi angles, buddy comedy moments and most disappointingly documentary stylings that feel like an afterthought that ads very little to the overall grand scheme of things, Dirt is a typically ambitious outing from Moorhead and Benson but arguably one of their more disappointing overall efforts that struggles to maintain and initially intriguing early stretch and idea that is increasingly light on wins as the two hour runtime of the film wears on.

The chemistry between the real life friends on camera is a major win for the film with the back and forth between John and Levi one of the films strongest elements and as their work together pulls their uneasy friendship further apart, Moorhead and Benson are up for the challenge as performers with both their characters not the kind of likeable and memorable characters the best of these type of films have front and centre but two characters that feel real and relatable as they find themselves in over their heads.

With so many elements and different components to explore it's a shame so much of Dirt feels bloated and unneeded and outside of the odd decision to frame parts of the film in a documentary style experience the biggest let down for all the plodding and dancing around answers comes from the fact by the film gets to its end game, it feels like Dirt is more of a film with the ideas and not the end game to make it all tie together with Benson and Moorhead capable of a much more rounded package that packs originality in with conclusions and answers to boot.

Final Say -

With much of their careers still waiting to be explored it's likely that Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson have much stronger films to come with Something in the Dirt a film with moments but far too many misses to call a success.

2 levitating objects out of 5

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

If you ever had an argument with a true believer in some wacky conspiracy theory, you know that logic, reason, evidence and fact get you nowhere with these people.

There is a different approach to confronting them, one which is rarely practiced because it is difficult to pull off both convincingly and usefully. Let's call this approach "amplification": instead of trying to reason with this crowd, you try to one-up them in the most ludicrous way which still maintains a hair of plausibility (at least to those already deep into a conspiratorial mindset). So, every detail that even the conspiracy theorist overlooked becomes important, every theory they come up with is explained by a yet deeper theory, which, if they inquire about it, has its origin in yet a deeper theory, all based on a vast collection of seemingly random facts and events.

The point of amplification is to fight absurdity with even more and outrageous absurdity, in the hope that at some point the conspiracy theorists realize on their own how ridiculous it all is. It is irony on steroids. A real-life example, albeit created more for the sake of satire than refutation, is the "birds aren't real" movement.

I feel that SOMETHING IN THE DIRT is the cinematic equivalent of amplification. Two struggling co-tenants happen to come across a supernatural phenomenon and decide to try to turn their luck by making a documentary out of it in order to win money and prizes.

The conceit of the story is that every single thread they follow, no matter how random or stupid, turns out to have some eerie significance in terms of connecting to other random or stupid threads. Their world is, in short, a conspiracy theorist's paradise, a universe in which nothing is random, yet at the same time nothing can mean anything because the meaning is always deferred to the next connecting thread.

As the movie uncompromisingly follows the two protagonists' voyage deep into the head-spinning rabbit hole, we understand less and less what is causing the original supernatural phenomenon. At the same time, though, we gain a better understanding of the flaws that predisposed the two characters to become conspiracy theorists coming from vastly different backgrounds. Their flaws rob them of success in their venture, but not of their humanity, and so the characters are a mirror to the current age of Qanon and other stupid conspiracy theories.

Reading some of the reviews, I feel that many viewers have misunderstood the movie. At the end, the phenomenon and many other strange connections are left completely unexplained, and it seems many people did not like this.

But the movie really could not have done otherwise without compromising its integrity because offering a resolution to the mysteries the characters encounter, any resolution at all, would have undermined its central aim. It would have turned the film from an anti-conspiracy theory movie to just another conspiracy theory movie. I am not a big fan of open endings in movies, but in this case I can understand that it was absolutely necessary to make the point.

The technical aspects of the movie are fine, and the central premise is ingenious. The greatest challenge this movie faces, I think, is to convey to the audience what exactly it is about, a challenge rendered all the more daunting by the fact that there really isn't any other movie like it. Movies with a message have to thread a fine line between being too obvious and preachy and being too obscure and mystifying. I think if DIRT had erred a little less on the side of being obscure, it could have communicated its message more clearly, a message which is more important now than ever.

Another original film by the duo Benson/Moorhead. But this time was more focused on drama and character development by the two lead protagonists/directors. The mystery of the phenomenon had me pretty interested throughout the movie but at certain point I kinda gave up on it since the accent was put so much more on the effects and the relationship between the two guys rather than the story or the origin of the phenomenon.

BUT, this film also gave me strong Resolution (2012) vibes. Resolution too was a movie about two dudes in similar situation but with very different relationship and backstories, then years later The Endless (2017) explained in glorious way the questions we had about The Resolution back in 2012.

It may be silly to assume, but we miiight just get another sequel/prequel regarding the unanswered backstory of Something in the Dirt.