Twentynine Palms (Dumont, 2003)

Bruno Dumont's reductionist look at human nature, and the human condition in Twentynine Palms (2003) is rather bleak. This film, in terms of narrative and entertainment does not fit the bill of your average southern California film. Set east of Hollywood in the town of Twentynine Palms outside of Joshua Tree National Park which, for those geographically impaired, is a desert. Essentially nothing happens in this film until the last 15 minutes or so, the rest is spent within the painfully mundane interactions of two rather boring people, who happen to be in the middle of nowhere.

David and Katia spend most of the film having conversations that make our everyday interactions seem interesting. Their actions are just as useless as their words. They spend the entire film bickering, having what looks like painful sex, and driving around in their Hummer. The cinematography, with it's long, wide shots of the beautiful yet desolate California desert reinforces the idea that these people (or people in general) are living pointless lives in meaningless world, trapped in their claustrophobic vehicles and motel rooms.

The ending of the film changes some of this. When they are randomly attacked amidst the desolation, by the only other people they interact with in the film, it gives a real sense of what Dumont thinks of humans. If we did not get it from this, David subsequently murders his girlfriend and then supposedly takes his own life in the desert. The only people we see in this film are beastly evil, violent, and sex craved.