Something In The Dirt Review

Something in the dirt review

“Paranormal inactivity as Peep Show meets Pi. Making a mindful and charismatic feast was too much to swallow for me.”

L.A is a perfect setting for films. Intertwined with the Industry and rich with a mythos of its own first and foremost, L. An a s a life, a culture, and a framework as our two leads live under the flight path of L.A.X in rented flats and a sense of delay and disaffection.

The leads as well could easily be an exciting film as ‘the odd couple the bro-bro ‘meet cute’ of their initial conversation with each other as John and Levi become friends with financial benefits as they take on archetypical rules of ‘slacker’ and ‘high maintenance while trying to see what they can gain from the paranormal activity in slacker John’s flat. If you took the genre elements out, you would have an engaging light drama about two guys who don’t know each other that well surprising and teasing each other while still enjoying the early middle age privilege of living a perpetual mediocrity.Iti ts almost as if they were Richard Linklater, emphasizing Later, and nothing has changed emotionally. As we see more about their past, the twists that have gotten them here, and how they maintain their lives, one can’t help but be drawn to a, if not grimy, more bblue-collar aspect of L. A life we rarely see in the UK.

The film is a beast at close to 2 hours,s and while the events in the flat itself are relatively minor (the usual lights and levitations before the world implodes.) The theoretical side is the deciding factor for running through this film. Almost every aspect of anecdote and consideration is followed through and displayed on the screen, sometimes to humorous effect (questions of rent and realities of being on a sex offender register to rear their head) but more often to create a greater sense of scale given the confines of a film that will always be part of the ‘covid production house cinema.’ 

Ley Lines, historical events, physics, quantum possibilities, and the Pythagorean Brotherhood all get touched upon. Even Innsmouth and a trip to the beach for skulls and conches all layer the film fittingly

The movie trade of indie making and media presentation takes the film further. We are watching two guys wanting to make a buck from mwatchmentary. Then we are watching a documentary about them trying to make a buck. 

It’s this aspect I find a genuine problem. I hate riddles and puzzles. I veer them as much as I can. I’m someone who finds tea and toast complex at times. People who are gleeful with them tend to be people who never worked on solving them. 

I love the atmosphere, character, and mythos; this film utterly has that. But with the level of ambiguity and running time, I feel it would be a more fitting 90 minutes of Netflix and chill.

But this is also why I am trying to see the film ‘Live.’ The buzz post the screening was powerful amongst a strong faction of the crowd. I have a friend, Jason,  who adores ‘cube ‘’ Pi’ and conceptual minutiae and history and, by my retelling, would enjoy it. I can’t be bothered with the saw franchise puzzles half the time. And it’s a good film. But for my mind…hard to digest.