I saw Ask the Dust, the Robert Towne movie based on the novel of the same name by John Fante. There are quite a few reviews of this movie on the internet and I can agree with much of what’s said. This was not the best movie that I’ve seen but it was entertaining. The film stars Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Donald Sutherland and Idena Menzel played prominent parts as well.
I’m okay with Westerns and turn of the century movies. Maybe that’s why I liked this movie. Maybe it was the skinny dipping scene with Farrell and Hayek at the Ocean (or the later love scene where they’re naked and loving it). Or, maybe this was just a decent movie that was worth passing time with.
IMDB says:
In the Robert Towne-directed adaptation of John Fante’s Depression Era novel, Hayek will play the fiery Mexican beauty Camilla who hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini (Farrell), a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.
Reviewer Noralee says,
“Ask the Dust” has excellent elements that almost come together as a whole.
and
What saves the film is the frank dialog and odd sparks between Colin Farrell, as repressed Italian-American writer from Colorado, novelist John Fante’s alter ego with the even more ethnically redolent name of “Arturo Bandini”, and Salma Hayak as a non-stereotyped Mexican spitfire “Camilla Lopez”. Their repartee about their biases is raw and fresh.
I cannot agree more. If you want a great artistic masterpiece, then this film will disappoint. If you want entertainment and to see either Farrell or Hayek nude, then watch it.
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