The Dust of Time (2008)

71% of critics liked it
(14 reviews)
46% of users liked it
(425 ratings)

Dust is everywhere and ever-present. A conglomeration of the smallest particles, dust nestles in carpets and in attics. It invades laboratories and settles on artworks. It is blown into the air from factory smokestacks and resides in every raindrop. It is fought and cleared away, but in this… More Dust is everywhere and ever-present. A conglomeration of the smallest particles, dust nestles in carpets and in attics. It invades laboratories and settles on artworks. It is blown into the air from factory smokestacks and resides in every raindrop. It is fought and cleared away, but in this Sisyphean task, dust is set in motion and returns even as it is being removed.

Dust examines the myriad forms and pathways of dust. It pursues dust to the places where it settles and meets the people who contend with it. Armies of cleaning men and women, manufacturers of vacuum cleaners and air cleansing products, housewives, toxic waste disposal workers, and museum custodians.

In examining the many types of dust, including microscopic particulates invisible to the naked eye, DUST hears from a variety of scientists-botanists, biologists, meteorologists, and astronomers-who investigate the environmental and health consequences of dust, from Sahara sandstorms and the Oklahoma dust bowl of the Thirties to the toxic dust generated by the 9/11 demolition of the WTC towers.

The phenomenological, philosophical and even artistic aspects of the culture of dust are also explored in interviews with artists and collectors. By closely examining a subject that surrounds us in our daily lives, but to which we rarely pay serious attention, DUST provides us with a new appreciation of the many ways in which dust affects our bodies, our environment, and even the cosmos.Indeed, by enabling us to take such a close look at particles often invisible to the naked eye, DUST offers us a fresh, new way to see the entire world.-- (C) Icarus Films

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 5 min.
Directed By: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Dec 1, 2008 Wide
Studio: Icarus Films

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
I never knew dust could give me such pleasure.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Dust is an eccentric and profoundly informative documentary.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Dustâ"the movieâ"is characterized by its clean cinematography, uncluttered compositions, and unceasing dialectic.
Jay Weissberg, Variety
Dispassionate disquisition is taken to the extreme in Hartmut Bitomsky's humorless docu.
Rob Humanick, Suite101.com
For those most curious about the world around them, Dust is a revelation.
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
mia ananeomeni skinothetiki proseggisi os pros tin safos mikroteri diarkeia ton paradosiakon anekdotologikon toy panarismaton kai ton tahytero, shedon kanoniko rythmo tis tainias, eno fernei toys iroes toy pio konta stin othoni, gia na tairiaksei i aposta
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Dust may not sound like the most mesmerizing film subject, but Dust makes it so. Hartmut Bitomsky's amazing documentary covers its subject almost as comprehensively as dust covers everything itself.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's not quirky, nor is it exactly cautionary. It casually mentions all the various forms of lethal stuff we could be breathing at any moment, in any part of the world, and then ends with a shrug.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Hartmut Bitomsky's Dust makes a pensive study of the title particulate, considering the way we wage a never-ending battle with the tiny specks that gather around us.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
How seriously you take Dust will depend not only on your patience, but on how anxious a streaky bookshelf makes you.
Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com
Everything you ever wanted to know about dust. And even more than you ever thought possible. Then even more.
Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com
In the end, Bitomsky equates dust with life and death and the infinite
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Never feels philosophically uncommitted, nor does it scan as neo-colonialist exploitation.
Cathleen Roundtree, Boxoffice Magazine
An engagingly philosophic approach to a mundane topic.