To Dust

'To Dust', is a dark comedy starring Geza Rohrig (Schmuel) and Matthew Broderick (Albert) and was featured at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. It follows the quest of Orthodox Jew Schmuel to find out what actually happens to the physical body of his wife, who has recently died of cancer. Although cancer is used in many films, the 'eating one up from inside' description fits well here as Schmuel is being 'eaten up' by the conflict of his religious belief of what happens to his wife's soul, his love and longing for his wife, and the scientific facts of what happens to the physical body after death. He ventures out of his Orthodox rules and enlists the help of Community College Biology Professor Albert to explore this bodily mystery. What follows is a series of dark but funny scenes between the two men that ultimately reveal the core tenants of the movie-love, peace of mind, and acceptance. A very unique film with great performances that I hope will find the light of your local theaters.

This film is so morbid, literally. It is a sad to see that the man is so disturbed and stuck due to his wife's passing, but his morbid fascination with the morbid is just very disturbing. Be prepared if you really are going to watch this. It contains very very disturbing scenes.

When the R rating for this film declares disturbing images they're not kidding. The movie is a dark, absurd, and morbid comedy, as a Hasidic cantor (Geza Rohrig) becomes obsessed with trying to find out how long it will take his recently deceased wife's remains to decompose into dust so that her spirit can be free.

He will eventually team up with a reluctant community college science professor (Matthew Broderick) to try and get some answers. They will employ some highly bizarre and weird techniques to try and accomplish this.

I found most of the intended deadpan humor didn't quite work here, but as the film progressed I did find some of it darkly funny, like the scene with the security guard (Natalie E. Carter) at the Tennessee body farm.

Overall, after reading so many glowing reviews from pro critics I came away disappointed with this movie. It's not an easy watch for sure, but it also was unlike anything I can recall seeing on screen before.

Would have gotten nine stars except the characterization of the C.C. prof was more comical than realistic, and any half way adequate collegiate anthropology or forensic taphonomy dept. or natural history museum could have given direction to questions of decomposition. Anyway, sort-of-science meets orthodox Jew (actually an Hasidic cantor) in this at times amusing, at times heartfelt devotion, journey & discovery of soulful death. The pig (other animals have also been time lapsed filmed) cycle of returning nutrients to the earth is a film classic which brings up the question of the effects of embalming chemicals & casket materials.

I can safely say To Dust is... Quite unlike most movie - or maybe any movie - about grief I can think of... uh... Maybe it's reverse Hassidic Frankenstein? Instead of resurrecting a body to life it's bringing the body to get into the Earth quicker?! This is followed to some wonderfully bizarre extremes.

The main character is a bit hard to really get into due to his... Ways about him, which is being stubborn and prickly and totally set in his mindset regarding the body and the soul (not a slight on the actor, he does what hes asked to do), and Broderick acts his Brodericky self off. It's a truly interesting independent film dramedy that doesn't compromise really, which is a strength and a detriment. It's a view into a hermetically sealed world done with humor, even if it's hit or miss, and genuine pathos.

Thank you for getting into producing, Ron Perlman!