Down to the Dirt

Though set within the unfamiliar cinematic terrain of Newfoundland’s seedy underbelly, Down to the Dirt‘s egregiously plotless sensibilities eventually transform it into a surprisingly off-putting and downright dull piece of work. The film primarily follows a poetry-writing bad boy (Joel Hynes’ Keith Kavanagh) as he embarks upon a relationship with the equally rebellious Natasha (Mylene Savoie), with the bulk of the proceedings devoted to their attempts at finding a better, more prosperous life for themselves. There’s little doubt that Down to the Dirt does hold some promise in its early scenes, as filmmaker Justin Simms paints an admittedly vivid portrait of the exceedingly dingy landscape within which Keith exists. It becomes clear fairly quickly, however, that Keith simply isn’t interesting enough a character to sustain one’s interest for the duration of the film’s sporadically interminable running time, and the increasingly unpleasant bent of Simms and Hynes’ screenplay does become awfully tough to take – particularly once the action shifts to Halifax, where Keith encounters a vicious pimp (Hugh Dillon’s Renny) and Natasha dates an eye-rollingly superficial businessman. By the time the drawn-out cat-murdering sequence rolls around, Down to the Dirt has certainly established itself as an uncommonly disagreeable effort that’s destined to turn off most mentally-stable viewers.

* out of ****