There’s ‘Something in the Dirt’… It’s the Latest from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

November 3, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , 1 Comment

That’s some dirt! (CREDIT: XYZ FILMS/Screenshot)

Starring: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson

Director: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rating: R for Philosophical Babble Occasionally Laced with Profanity

Release Date: November 4, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: If you asked me, “Hey, Mr. Movie Critic, who are your favorite indie filmmakers working today?”, then I would answer without hesitation “Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead!” (The exclamation point is there because I would be really excited to answer that question.)

That theoretical conversation is not what Something in the Dirt is about, but it is the perfect way to introduce it, since it’s the latest effort from the Benson-Moorhead directing duo. While they were locked down during COVID-19’s early days, they couldn’t help but make a new movie. Justin plays Levi, while Aaron assumes the role of John, two guys who live in the same apartment complex and notice some strange goings-on that seem to defy the laws of space and time. So they decide to make a documentary about it, all the while musing about gravity, electromagnetism, simulation theory, unexplainable phenomena, encounters with coyotes, and Dan Brown. But can their friendship survive their obsessions?!

What Made an Impression?: I found Something in the Dirt to be the most impenetrable of Benson and Moorhead’s films, even though it’s almost entirely just two guys talking to each other. But they drifted so far away from brass tacks that I was often left wondering, “Wait, did something happen that I missed while I was with you guys the whole time?” In some ways, that’s kind of thrilling, as they weave together a montage of simple images that appear to come from stock footage and readily accessible Internet sources and manage to make it feel like the entire fate of the universe is at stake. At other times, it just feels like frustrating smoke break-filled quasi-philosophical musings. (Although maybe that’s the point?)

As Levi and John’s efforts drag on into oblivion, there’s a bubbling antagonism, which isn’t much fun to be around. Luckily, that’s occasionally broken up by talking head interviews with the crew of their documentary-within-a-film. That sort of reality imposition trope pretty much always works for me, and that’s the case here.

I watched Something in the Dirt at home via an online screener, and I think it may have suffered a bit that way, because this is the sort of movie that begs to be fully immersed in. Although, I also suspect that home viewing has its advantages, what with modern technology allowing for pausing, rewinding, and copious note-taking. Still, this kind of feels like a doodle, but like a really detailed doodle that incorrigible artists can draw on command.

Something in the Dirt is Recommended If You Like: Conspiracy theory videos, Staying up all night to talk about conspiracy theory videos

Grade: 3 out of 5 Gravity Shifts

This Is a Movie Review: ‘The Endless’ Upends Tropes About Cults and Then Melts Your Brain

April 2, 2018

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Well Go USA

This review was originally published on News Cult in March 2018.

Starring: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Tate Ellington, Callie Hernandez, Lew Temple, James Jordan

Directors: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Running Time: 111 Minutes

Rating: Not Rated, But I Would Peg It at PG-13 for General Eeriness and Some Unhinged Behavior

Release Date: April 6, 2018 (Limited)

I am writing this review about a month after seeing The Endless. I knew that it was probably going to be a while before I got around to this write-up, so to remind myself what I wanted to say, I left myself the note “Big ideas that might or might not be fully fleshed out.” And now that I have had extra time to mull it all over, I have come to the conclusion that those big ideas were indeed successfully fully fleshed out. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who co-directed and co-star, are a dynamic duo here to upend your genre expectations.

The pull of religious cults has been a major part of American culture and history, and its portrayal in film and TV has been more or less codified into a particular routine. And at first, it seems like that is what The Endless is going for. Benson and Moorhead play brothers Justin and Aaron Smith; the actors and characters sharing the same first names lends a sort of faux true-life docudrama feel that low-budget indies often aim for. They grew up in a commune that has survived living off the grid by brewing and selling its own beer. Justin eventually wised up to the brainwashing that he was certain was going on and pulled himself and Aaron out of the commune and into a life on their own. But that has come to mean frequent joblessness and dire financial straits.Aaron yearns to return to the bonhomie and relative security of the commune, questioning whether or not it really is a cult. Nudging him along is a videotape they have just received featuring a woman from the commune (Callie Hernandez) prophesying the imminent arrival of “the Ascension,” the type of mysterious, perhaps apocalyptic event that cults tend to prophesy about.

Justin concedes to Aaron’s request, with the firm caveat that this will be a quick visit. Justin’s warnings are seemingly confirmed by the cultish welcoming vibe spiked with an undercurrent of creepiness and manipulative tests of character. But a few foreboding signs that could just be illusions – a tossed baseball stuck in the air, a rope pulled by an unseen force, two moons in the sky – suggest that something stranger and more sinister is actually going on. Some of the phenomena that takes place cannot be explained by human trickery, and at a certain point The Endless swerves hard (but naturally) into a completely different movie – something much more mind-bending and uniquely satisfying. The commune appears to have established in another realm of existence where the laws of time and space have been folded in on themselves. To go into more detail would ruin much of the fun of discovery, but suffice it to say this is a sort of Twilight Zone of indie film, and perhaps the best example of that description that I have ever seen.

The Endless is Recommended If You Like: The pipes from Super Mario World, Another Earth, Primer

Grade: 4 out of 5 Multiple Moons