RETURN TO DUST -- One of the Most Beautiful Things in Any Movie I've Seen All Year

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Every once in a while, you as a film critic come across a film that floors you in a way you didn't expect. The Chinese film Return to Dust is one of those films. I didn't know what to expect when I first started watching this foreign film, but when I was finished, I was thinking about my life and how I might have been doing something wrong. The two main characters in this movie made me feel very bad in a good way.

The story focuses mainly on two unassuming people of Chinese descent. One is an old farmer who walks around with his donkey and cart. The second person is a small frumpy hunchback woman. By circumstance, these two people end up in an arranged marriage, even though they barely knew each other. Not having any control of the situation, they start living and working together to make a better life for themselves.

This film shows a relationship built on respect and hard work, in which both people overcome tremendous adversity. Each of these two people shows what they bring to this relationship. They go through various obstacles in their lives, but each time they come through it with flying colors until a tragedy happens and one of them passes away. The lives they built with each other were so strong that the other will never forget what this marriage meant to them. It was a beautiful marriage.

While many people might think this story was boring or very slow compared to other films, I thought all this stuff in the film was fascinating and interesting. I'm not that knowledgeable about farming or Chinese culture, but I learned a lot by watching this movie. So many little details of farming, building, business, and coexistence within a culture or community were so eye-opening to me.

The direction by Li Ruijiun was very clean and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He allowed the cinematography by Wang Weihua to be the true beauty of the film. It showed various weather conditions, from wintry snowfall to pelting rain and sweltering sunlight. No matter what conditions were shown on screen, the beauty was very much at the forefront of what was captured. It matched the relationship between these two people.

In the history of film, there have been hundreds of movies that deal with relationships between men and women. I would be hard-pressed to find a better film that deals with two people who had an understanding of each other as this one does. It doesn't have to be about attraction or physical beauty at all. It can truly be about how two people had an understanding of one another, and that is all that is needed in the end. It is truly beautiful how, despite the circumstances, these people made the most of their situation and found happiness.

Return to Dust focuses on a few different themes, but mainly it's about what becomes an unlikely beautiful relationship between these two people forced to marry one another. What transpires after that is one of the most amazing things I've seen on screen this year. And the rest of the themes involving how Chinese people farm, build and do business were fascinating as well. It was a great pleasure to see another culture I didn't know anything about like this.

​Return to Dust hits theaters on July 21.

Rating: 4.5/5