Review of Twentynine Palms (2003) by Laurence T — 13 Mar 2009

Dumont seems to have David Hockney paintings in the back of his mind when filming this, so we can expect a balancing act between calming visuals and immediate intimacy. The interest here is from Dumont's theory that the tragedy of human relationships is that people really want to live inside of each other. The fact the two protagonists speak different languages emphasises this sad distance they can never close, even as they shun other people.

Some really masterful camera work here. Aside from the obvious sceneric beauty and clever water level shots of David, pay close attention amd there are all sorts of beautiful frames. A repeated shot is of the humans becoming smaller and smaller as they drive or walk from the camera, being folded into the wilderness.

Worlds collide in this. Sometimes sexually, sometimes violently. Beware.