Rod Blackhurst embarks on a bloody thriller with “Blood for Dust”

The American director deconstructs the American dream with shotguns and automatic weapons. “Blood for Dust”, which we discovered at the Reims Polar festival, is a barely disguised criticism of an unequal society, which breeds its own monsters.

Is it the gray sky and the cool wind or the particularly attractive programming of the 4th Crime film festival that attracted the Rémois to the cinemas? All the seats in the large hall of the Opéraims were occupied for the screening of Blood for Dust by Rod Blackhurst.

The director, unavailable during the festival, wanted to make himself heard thanks to a video recording from Nashville. In perfect French, mixed with a strong American accent, he recalls his special links with France and his numerous stays in the South during his childhood.

His film begins with a fixed shot of a photograph of a man in Marine uniform, his wife and two children. The cliché of a happy family. Off-camera, an explosion resonates and blood spurts on a wall… until the photo is erased.

The tone is set. The American dream is exploding. A man committed suicide in his office.

Hemoglobin for dust

Two friends of the suicide arrive. Who are they ? Cliff, VRP, still on the snowy roads of Montana and Wyoming, is unable to earn a decent salary to feed his family and – above all – to meet the expenses of treating his son who is suffering from cancer. Nor to repay its various credits. It’s the descent into hell, the American nightmare. Cliff, played by Scoot McNairy, strikingly suppressed tension and economy of gestures, is ready to do anything to get out of the financial impasse. In fact, his friend Ricky, an arms dealer, suggests that he join forces with him to earn easy money.

Rod Blackhurst has fun deconstructing the American dream with shotguns and automatic weapons. The voracity of all echoes a social Darwinism dominated by cartel leaders. Any criticism of unbridled capitalism would not be accidental.

Cliff, for his part, just dreams of repaying his debts by agreeing to serve as a mule with his car. Except that, like in a Tarantino scenario, everything goes wrong. Can friendship survive gluttonous appetites? The friend Ricky, played by a chilling Kit Harington, turns out to be complex. Blood for Dust, an explosive thriller.

The sheet

Title : Blood for Dust

Gender : Thriller, Drama

Director: Rod Blackhurst

Distribution : Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington, Nora Zehetner, Ethan Suplee and Stephen Dorff

Duration : 1h38

Theatrical release: April 19, 2024

Synopsis: Cliff, a salesman who travels the roads and is drowning in debt, embarks on a dangerous path the day he reconnects with Ricky, an old acquaintance with questionable methods.