‘Something in the Dirt’ is a comedy thriller that follows Levi and John – two neighbours who happen on an anomaly in Levi’s apartment and decide to document it. Shortly after moving into his new apartment, Levi meets John, his downstairs neighbour. The two become fast friends and witness a strange occurrence in Levi’s apartment.
After deciding to film it and divvying up tasks, the two try to rationalise what they are seeing; - on occasion an odd crystal object that Levi had found in his apartment begins to float. Over time John and Levi also discover fluctuations in gravity, light appearing in a closet without an apparent source, heat signatures and a plant developing unnatural features. Trying to link the strange happenings to something, the two theorise about parallel universes, secrets societies, mathematical oddities and the simulation hypothesis.
Trying to piece together the multitude of clues and new findings, the two come to an impasse after Levi wants to stop documenting the phenomena, growing concerned they may trigger a catastrophic event. Unconvinced, John wants to carry on. After a fight, the two part ways.
John later returns to Levi’s after his carbon monoxide alarm goes off, with Levi allowing him to spend the night at his apartment. That night, John experiences the most drastic fluctuation in gravity yet. Looking to find Levi, John sees him floating up to the sky, only for him to come crashing down and die thereafter. The film closes on John completing the documentary, expressing little remorse for what happened to Levi.
Written by Justin Benson and directed by Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the frequent collaborators have delivered through ‘Something in the Dirt’ another intricate sci-fi feature that, much like their other projects, manages to fuse science fiction with drama. The draw to the film might be the mesmerizing visuals and scientific speculation, yet the core of the narrative lies with the relationship between Levi (Benson) and John (Moorhead).
The film lures us in with the odd happening in Levi’s apartment, allowing each viewer to draw from the vaguely suggestive happenings what they will. Much like Levi and John, we are allowed to wander and wade through a multitude of theories, speculating as to what exactly is going on in the small one bedroom space-time anomaly. By the end of the feature so many different threads and clues are parsed out that it becomes impossible to derive any one meaning out of what exactly had transpired.
Rather, the journey of how Levi and John end up where they are is the foundation of the feature. The narrative unfolds effortlessly, keeping the viewers engaged as personal information about both leads is rationed out sparingly, keeping us on our toes and seeking to devour any further clues to their past. The free flowing and natural exchanges between the two allows us to discover their beliefs and opinions, how different they are and what their ultimate goals are.
Besides their questionable past actions, the climax of the film, as John and Levi argue, is most revealing about their unfiltered opinion of each other. With John expressing his disappointment in Levi as an underachiever and loser, and Levi calling him a religious weirdo, the two part ways after what seems to be a natural resolution to their opposing aims for the project.
The film presents an earnest look at today's media and spread of information. The overwhelming amount of facts that need to be processed, they way in which they are presented and the overall ambiguity therein leaves us divided. In trying to rationalise what we see and hear, some will try to reformulate the facts to further their own agenda, to achieve what they want to, whilst others will try to maintain a distance once the noise gets too much.
‘Something in the Dirt’ is a surprisingly funny and revealing film that comments on the current state of affairs in the media and the presentation of news. Through the lens of science fiction, Benson and Moorhead deliver a story that warns us to proceed with caution, - delving deep and trying to examine the unknown may be a valiant effort, but we must understand and abide by our own limitations whist also maintaining a level of respect towards the others around us.
Score: 3/4
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