I watched the premiere of "Dust" last night at the Pusan Film Festival knowing little about it and was very pleasantly surprised. One of the few things I had heard about it was how little dialogue it had and how it was even reminiscent of a silent film at times and although I am a fan of long, slow films I wasn't looking forward to that aspect of it. After watching it I can say the sound in the movie was probably one of my favourite parts of it. It is hardly a silent movie; the best way I could describe it is as "appropriately quiet." The movie is set in world with a handful of human survivors, of which we meet only three, and as the opening quote tells us "it is a quiet world when there's no people around". The void left by the dialogue is not filled with a score but by natural sounds (they live on a gorgeous farm/estate on or near a river) and by slightly exaggerated sounds of footsteps, pouring milk, chewing and putting on sweaters and many more small details that accompany the action and make the film feel more full yet intimate. There is a little scoring in the third act when the emotions get heavier and I felt it may not have been necessary but that's just my opinion. There is in fact not much dialogue but not too little. When facial expressions and subtle looks can communicate emotions they are used, but when they do speak to each other it is used well to advance the plot and characterization. The plot is pretty straightforward and don't expect many surprises but where this film excels is in the subtle portrayal of emotion and thoughts. The three actors (especially the Eli and Eloidie) do a good job and put in very realistic performances. I found this movie reminded me of Koreeda's "Nobody Knows" and what the "Blue Lagoon" could have been like if it had been more realistic and been complicated by a love triangle. Overall I thought this was a very beautiful movie (aided by the amazing cinematography and locations also) and would highly recommend it.