Something in the Dirt - 2022
The secret sauce in Something in the Dirt is NOT in the excavation of heady sci-fi concepts, cultic conspiracy theorizing, and Pythagorean rabbithole chasing. It’s not even in the rich mathematical symbology or intriguing dialogue about the forces of gravity and electromagnetism.
Now, the film works because it is compellingly odd, to be sure. It triumphs because it never stops weaving mysteries around itself, or as one character puts it, “I want to get to the end of this thread. But there are just more threads.” So Something continues on with its striking visuals rendered in low fi detail and its enchanting, if eerie score.
Even so, what REALLY makes the picture hum is its counterbalance of absolute deadpan comedic chops and ever deepening character dynamics between its two stars. The former is wrung exceptionally well from the sheer situational absurdity of both the data present and the conclusions these two eggheads are reaching about it. As to the latter, as the picture unfolds it also opens itself, not to a larger depth of field (this is mostly a one room at the height of COVID production), but to a more three-dimensional depiction of these men.
Of course this becomes paramount in the finale, because the phenomena is only so interesting without the men’s sanity threatening to fray at the seams. It’s the push and pull of their slow and dexterous unraveling against some late-arriving acceptance of genuine mystery that ultimately leave us (frustratingly) satisfied.
By the end, the “truth” continues to elude us. Aliens or Pythagorean planners? Or simple but unexplained geological happenings? It’s the exploration that keeps us on the line (even if this film struggles to maintain its rhythm for 115 FULL minutes). Despite the limitations, Moorhead and Benson remain a team with a unique and cerebral vision.
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