Words do not come easy when I try to write about "ask the dust". Fante's book has been one of my favorites since I first read it a couple of years ago. Towne's film, which I saw yesterday, has grown slowly in me for almost different reasons. It reminds me of an old fashioned song, played in a battered gramophone. The stylus here, makes occasional jumps on the vinyl that are momentary annoying but cannot destroy the beauty of the music. Fante's book is a love story. Bandini loves and resents LA, the way he loves and resents Camilla. He thinks of LA as " a beautiful flower in the sand" while Camilla is his " Mayan princess". He wants to conquer this city by becoming a great writer and he wants to conquer Camilla by becoming a man. Fante's novel is an angry, bitter story. Bandini is not made to be the classic movie hero because he's painfully human. His contradictory attitude cannot be easily translated into movie words. Towne opted for voice-over narration which reveals some of Arturo's thoughts but doesn't always make clear his motivations. He has also made the Arturo-Camilla love story the backbone of his film. We watch these tragic figures spit at each other, struggling to communicate and overcome their racial problems, but we cannot always understand their choices. Arturo's love affair with the city of LA is mainly depicted through the magnificent work of the cinematographer, while Arturo himself seems sometimes stiff and awkward for no apparent reason. Many people have commented on the lack of chemistry between the two leads. I cannot put the blame on the actors. Trying to make a melodrama out of a character's journey to self- discovery is not the direct route to the book's heart . Here lies, IMO, Towne's failure. On the other hand, if we try to ignore the book and look at the movie with new eyes, we'll discover a lot of brilliant moments and a lingering melancholy that make this film memorable. The actors do a fine job. Colin Farrell goes through a wide range of emotions and he pulls it off brilliantly: he's awkward and woman-shy, arrogant and cruel, sensitive and vulnerable. In fact, I believe that he had all the elements to be Fante's Bandini, if only Towne's script had given him the chance. I didn't think much of Farrell as an actor, but his recent film choices since " Alexander" haven't stopped to amaze me. Camilla's character is more straightforward and much better developed by the script. Salma Hayek shines with her temperament and her fiery nature. Her obvious resentment at Americans' racial discrimination is portrayed here with heat and passion. Idina Menzel gives an outstanding performance and manages , in her restricted film time, to break our hearts. Donald Sutherland and Eileen Atkins make just brief cameos. As a whole, this is a "different", old fashioned movie, flawed but definitely worth the try.
Review of Ask the Dust
