The search for meaning can be all-encompassing, driving a person to obsession and fixation.Something in the Dirt, the latest small-scale effort from directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, dives right into this idea, framing it through the lens of two friends trying to explain the unexplainable. While it can sometimes feel muddled in its structure, the story pays off most when it focuses on its central characters and their deteriorating relationship.
Benson and Moorhead play Levi and John, two neighbors brought together through circumstance who witness paranormal phenomena in Levi’s apartment. Their immediate reaction to the strange things happening is tomake a documentary and profit off of their experience.
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While the bulk of the film follows Levi and John as they uncover secrets about the central mystery and each other,there are also documentary-style talking headsthat lend more texture to the story. These segments, as well as many of the inserts placed strategically throughoutSomething in the Dirt, certainly lend a unique flavor to the storytelling, but they also tend to confuse the story and pull attention away from the central pair. It’s an intentional choice, considering the motives of Levi and John, but it can be jarring and occasionally raise too many questions about when something is taking place.
There is also no point in trying to piece together the various mysteries presented in the plot, asSomething in the Dirtis perfectly happy to leave multiple threads hanging, even its main one. This is a movie that is more about the journey than the destination. That becomes especially apparent when it pulls the rug out in a particularly early scene that changes much of the movie’s context. That may disappoint some viewers who prefer to have more closure by the time the credits roll, but ultimately the film is more concerned with diving into its thematic elements and exploration of character.
Despite those elements of the movie,the tone, palette, and cinematographyofSomething in the Dirtground it in reality, presenting Los Angeles not as the bright, shiny center of show business, but rather gritty, ugly, and noisy. From the beginning, Levi shares his desire to leave the city, and it’s easy to see why he would want to. Grounding the story in current events by including references to COVID and wildfires makes it clear that the City of Angels is not some dream destination or hometown for many.
What really makesSomething in the Dirtwork is the dynamic between Levi and John. Benson and Moorhead have great on-screen chemistry (not surprising considering their long working history), and they really sell the uneasy friendship between these two disparate LA residents. Levi’s more laid-back and free-spirited nature contrasts perfectly with John’s more reserved, button-down nature. However, as they spend more time together and reveal more about themselves, it’s clear that both characters have more going on under the surface.
The revelations about Levi and John’s separate pasts and desires come about in organic ways, revealing just why they have found themselves in the current situation, and why it apparently means different things to both of them. Their partnership traces a perfect arc andbuilds one of them up as the antagonist, pursuing the mystery for his own gain and cutting the other one down in the process. Despite featuring other characters in smaller roles, this is mostly a two-hander, and Benson and Moorhead carry the story well. Often the best scenes are just Levi and John having a conversation about their lives and diving into some deep truths.
While the movie’s plot can sometimes feel a bit fractured, it’s the thematic elements that really make everything tick.Something in the Dirtbases much of its conflict on the search for meaning and answers, no matter how self-destructive it can be. There’s also some wry commentary on how easily accessible swaths of information (and misinformation) are in the modern age. John and Levi bounce around numerous conspiracies andtheories about alien life and simulations, never forming a cogent thesis but doing their best to patch one together from various dubious sources. John, in particular, becomes so entrenched in what he hears on podcasts or reads on message boards that he ignores the reality of a situation unfolding right in front of him.
This particular part of the story also informs a lot of the humor in the film. Though it plays its story straight, there are some genuine moments of comedy throughout, such as John inexplicably speaking in an odd accent while narrating part of the documentary and Levi trying and failing to set up a tripod. The notes of levity come about organically and further ground the story in reality.
Something in the Dirtis an intriguing (if sometimes messy) story about trying to find meaning in the mundane. It’s a tragicomic sci-fi tale that uses its paranormal elements to inform its realistic and very human story about what obsession can do to a person.Something in the Dirt’s plot may leave plenty of questions unanswered, and it may not always be a cohesive narrative, but the central characters and their dynamic are enough of a draw to make this movie feel refreshing.
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