Twentynine Palms

France 2003, 114 minutes
Dir. Bruno Dumont
In French with English subtitles
Rating: [R18]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama / Sex, Road Movie

Feat. Katia Golubeva, David Wissak

Aroview: Provocative in both form and content, dir. Dumont (L'HUMANITE) crafts an opaque thriller around a dysfunctional couple's 'holiday' in the American desert around the Joshua Tree National Park.

With their relationship teetering into animosity, Golubeva and Wissak scout for locations for a 'job', while squabbling and engaging in unrestrained and graphic bouts of onscreen sex. A certain paranoia also hangs in the dry desert air, as disconnected yet strangely symbolic events occur then vanish like mirages, while the climactic scenes bring matters to a violently terminal conclusion.

NZ International Film Festival 2004