You can tell they shot Blood for Dust outside. People’s cold breath hangs in the wintry air, and it’s not the kind of wispy CGI breath that never seems to move quite right. Half-melted snow clings to the streets and straw-yellow Montana hills. The film’s title and poster would blend right into a direct-to-video lineup, but director Rod Blackhurst brings surprising texture and craft to bear on the otherwise familiar proceedings of this ’90s-set noir.
In a rare lead role, dependable and charismatic character actor Scoot McNairy plays Cliff, a traveling salesman whose tired eyes give away his success on the job. Maybe he was persuasive once, but he’s now tough to imagine peddling anything to anyone, much less the defibrillators that he crams into the back of his station wagon alongside the dummy he uses to demonstrate them. He even botches an attempt to blackmail...
In a rare lead role, dependable and charismatic character actor Scoot McNairy plays Cliff, a traveling salesman whose tired eyes give away his success on the job. Maybe he was persuasive once, but he’s now tough to imagine peddling anything to anyone, much less the defibrillators that he crams into the back of his station wagon alongside the dummy he uses to demonstrate them. He even botches an attempt to blackmail...
- 4/17/2024
- by Steven Scaife
- Slant Magazine
Director Rod Blackhurst’s stark crime flick Blood for Dust is nothing new under the sun — or, more accurately, the frigid sun of Wyoming and Montana, where the story takes place. But with an array of burnished, lived-in performances from a strong cast and an underlying level of suspense punctuated by a few gnarly action scenes, it’s certainly a watchable little genre venture that could find an audience, especially on streaming.
Fargo (both the movie and the TV series) immediately comes to mind in this early 90s-set thriller that feels very much like a product of the early 90s, with lots of caustic dialogue and outbursts of gory violence against a backdrop of Western American desolation. Following a forlorn salesman, Cliff (Scoot McNairy), who gets roped into illegal drug trafficking by his badass former colleague, Ricky (Kit Harington), it heads to mostly familiar places, but manages to do so...
Fargo (both the movie and the TV series) immediately comes to mind in this early 90s-set thriller that feels very much like a product of the early 90s, with lots of caustic dialogue and outbursts of gory violence against a backdrop of Western American desolation. Following a forlorn salesman, Cliff (Scoot McNairy), who gets roped into illegal drug trafficking by his badass former colleague, Ricky (Kit Harington), it heads to mostly familiar places, but manages to do so...
- 6/12/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Bruiser” builds to a massive brawl that, in a different kind of film, would be the main attraction. But director Miles Warren has other priorities than sensationalizing violence between Black men in a movie that is instead preoccupied with where such aggression comes from. Insightful and universal in so many ways, Warren’s first feature is a confident if sometimes oblique coming-of-age story from an important new voice, focused on an African American teen torn between two very different role models, one who insists that he stay focused and “take his lumps,” the other ready to teach the boy how to defend himself in a fight.
Fourteen-year-old Darious (Jalyn Hall) has all kinds of reasons to be angry. His parents, Malcolm (Shamier Anderson) and Monica (Shinelle Azoroh), send him to a private school full of relatively privileged kids. His classmates have summer vacations to Greece to look forward to, but when the break comes,...
Fourteen-year-old Darious (Jalyn Hall) has all kinds of reasons to be angry. His parents, Malcolm (Shamier Anderson) and Monica (Shinelle Azoroh), send him to a private school full of relatively privileged kids. His classmates have summer vacations to Greece to look forward to, but when the break comes,...
- 12/3/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
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Miles Warren’s narrative debut Bruiser is a restrained consideration of a familiar premise. Two men with shared history crave respect, approval and affection, but the asphyxiating confines of hyper-masculinity deter them from asking for it. They fight for domination instead, a quest that plagues their respective journeys with undercurrents of violence. Warren has a keen interest in trying to understand this path, in portraying what brutality does to individuals and their communities.
Bruiser chronicles the tumultuous summer between 7th and 8th grade for Darious (Jalyn Hall of Till), a recalcitrant teen struggling with puberty and life in his sleepy suburb. His mother, Monika (Shinelle Azoroh), spends most of her days conducting private violin lessons at home while his father, Malcolm (Shamier Anderson), sells cars at his dealership. With both of his parents working, Darious, whose relationship with his old friends has languished...
Miles Warren’s narrative debut Bruiser is a restrained consideration of a familiar premise. Two men with shared history crave respect, approval and affection, but the asphyxiating confines of hyper-masculinity deter them from asking for it. They fight for domination instead, a quest that plagues their respective journeys with undercurrents of violence. Warren has a keen interest in trying to understand this path, in portraying what brutality does to individuals and their communities.
Bruiser chronicles the tumultuous summer between 7th and 8th grade for Darious (Jalyn Hall of Till), a recalcitrant teen struggling with puberty and life in his sleepy suburb. His mother, Monika (Shinelle Azoroh), spends most of her days conducting private violin lessons at home while his father, Malcolm (Shamier Anderson), sells cars at his dealership. With both of his parents working, Darious, whose relationship with his old friends has languished...
- 11/7/2022
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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