'Capsule Review' All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt'
Director Raven Jackson comes through with an effective feature debut in a film about life, loss, nature, and family that spans multiple decades. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt isn't a traditional narrative film with a beginning, middle, and end. What it is instead is a visually poetic feature that doesn't settle for the usual aesthetics of a narrative film. Much of the picture emphasizes touch. Hands touching water, dirt, and each other. Hands play a vital role in an unconventional piece that, depending on the audience member, will be moving or achingly boring.
Although the film stylistically has a unique voice, it comes at the price of making it clear who is who. If you're not listening carefully to a character's name drop, you could get lost in who you're watching in the movie. Although I get that the film wants to make everything about life a collection of memories resembling the things and those we touch, it doesn't make it clear who the characters are touching, which causes a disconnect in the material.
The experience the film is trying to resemble can be frustrating when we don't know who we're connecting with. Furthermore, Raven Jackson refuses to put time-stamped years like 1980, for example, to make us understand what period we're supposed to be in. A simple title would greatly strengthen a narrative that may be intentionally or unintentionally puzzling. To Jackson, it's not important what year it is or what character we're following, as it's more about what the people on screen are reacting to. That's all well and good, but I don't get the connection to what I'm feeling, as I barely understand who the movie is following.
Many viewers will draw comparisons to this movie with a Terrence Malick film as Malick's movies are a collection of memories compiled with whispy narrations to make you feel like you're in a dream. Unlike a Malick film, there are no voices to narrate the story. Instead, the movie relies heavily on sound to communicate emotions.
Mississippi is filled with cicadas, thunderstorms, and dripping water. It's so quiet; it's serene. The film itself, if you let it wash over you, is a peaceful, calming experience and one that should be seen on a big screen or at least a home theater with full surround sound. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, is an impressive debut from a director who's also a poet. The visual poetry Raven Jackson puts on screen is memorable. If only it had a little more clarity in its characters, it could be an even stronger film.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt debuted at the Chicago International Film Festival on October 18 and 19. It’s slated to release on November 3
