The Dust Factory

Starring:Armin Mueller-Stahl, Hayden Panettiere, Ryan Kelley, Kim Myers, George De La Pena, Michael Angarano, Peter Horton, Kyle Hansen, Ted Roisum, Ayanna Berkshire, Shuhe, Robert Blanche
Director: Eric Small (IV)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Description

Hayden Panettiere (Ice Princess) and Ryan Kelley (Mean Creek) are "attractively earnest"(Variety) teenagers who find budding romance in a magical realm somewhere between Heaven and Earth. An "original and imaginative"(Dallas Observer) fantasy about conquering your fears, The Dust Factory co-stars screen veteran Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine) as the boy's sage grandfather. After suffering accidents, Ryan (Kelley) and Melanie (Panettiere) meet in an enchanting new world called the Dust Factory, where amazing things happen. People walk on water and disappear in the mist, and Ryan's grandfather, who has Alzheimer's, is now lucid. With magic everywhere, will Ryan and Melanie ever find the courage to leave this wondrous sanctuary and return home?

Customer Reviews:

Ethereal Matters.......2007-06-12

I find this film somewhat similar to, "Dream a Little Dream." The main characters in both films are suspended between perception & reality, and are given the opportunity to see life from a new perspective & correct past mistakes.

Family magic.......2007-01-09

Our whole family loved this movie - daughter age 11 and son age 16 tell me they feel so strong and uplifted after watching.

An Existential Tweener Fantasy--"The Dust Factory" Is Overly Sentimental And Ultimately Cloying.......2006-12-04

I can certainly understand why some people have connected with "The Dust Factory." At least it attempts something intriguing. This is an existential fantasy that explores a world of "limbo," a place between life and death. It's a rather fantastical world, too--what with the circus standing as the surreal exit from this idyllic place. As a film geared toward younger viewers, I suppose there are some interesting ideas and visuals to recommend the film. However, for me, the execution was cutesy and cloying. I didn't expect a film about life and death to contain such contrived "preciousness."

Ryan Kelley plays a teenager who has remained mute since the death of his father. It's one of those classic movie cliches--this boy must be fixed. One day, he plunges off a bridge and appears to be drowning. He is transported to The Dust Factory. In this world, he meets his Grandfather (who in the real world was disconnected with Alzheimer's). Of course, here his Grandfather is fully capable and loaded with charm and wisdom. He also meets a young girl played by Hayden Panettiere. She is impossibly cute and upbeat, so obviously lives in denial about her real circumstances. They form a tentative romance and together contemplate never leaving this world.

With some heavy-handed metaphors, the exit to The Dust Factory is a trapeze act. If you are successful, you move to another realm. If not, you're reduced to dust and return to the physical world. The circus ringleader is a vague reference to death--at one point, Kelley even plays hockey with "death" to win Panetierre's freedom (not quite the chess game from "The Seventh Seal"--but similar in conception).

I was never particularly captivated by the fantasies within "The Dust Factory," but that wasn't my biggest issue. I just found the whole thing emotionally manipulative--sweet and sugary. Many find that this film doesn't talk down to kids--I don't know, maybe I was a rather sophisticated kid (or maybe just emotionally stunted). The romance is cutesy cute, the lessons obvious, and the cliches abundant. A good idea, but it just didn't work for me. KGHarris, 12/06.

Too Slow.......2006-11-13

I was very disappointed in this movie. I thought it was slow moving and found myself contunually calling up the display to see how much longer it lasted. The Grandfather has such a heavy accent that I missed a lot of what he was saying but didn't want to drag out the movie by playing it back. I have seen many fantasies in my time but this one left me cold. Didn't like! I was sure glad I had gotten it from the library and not bought it.

Danger-Philosophical-Requires Functioning Viewer Brain Cells.......2006-09-04

Contrary to popular belief, films do not have to be dumbed-down for children. Much of the pleasure they get comes from puzzling out complex plot developments and recognizing subtle details. And there is actually a small sub-genre of children's films (mostly independents) that challenge young viewers to use their imaginations and film viewing skills.

"The Dust Closet" joins "An Angel for May" and "Restless Spirits" as the best recent examples of this type of film. These films have a hidden depth to their story and storytelling technique that will interest even the most sophisticated viewer-provided that they retain at least some of their childhood capacity for wonder. The weak vote count probably reflects viewers unable or unwilling to deal with a film that requires some mental energy and a few functioning brain cells.

Ryan Flynn (Ryan Kelley) is a teenager who has refused to speak since being traumatized when he saw his father killed at a train crossing. Ryan's father died when Ryan was nine years old, but not before he passed on a passion for astronomy to his son. But now Ryan is having trouble connecting with astronomy, symbolized by his inability to find the man in the moon his father drew for him. Like an impressionist painting, the moonscape becomes meaningless when viewed close up through his new telescope.

Ryan's family takes care of his grandfather (Mueller-Stahl), but Ryan barely knows him because he has had Alzheimer's for a number of years. Ryan hangs out with his best friend Rocky (Michael Angarano), and they communicate fine nonverbally. Rocky does not question Ryan's silence-he just accepts it. Things dramatically change one day when Ryan falls off a bridge and into a lake while roller-blading. When he surfaces Rocky is gone and everything is a little off-kilter. His grandfather is completely recovered and living alone it their house, which was his originally. They have meaningful conversations and his grandfather tries to pass on advice on how to get the most out of life. Ryan meets a pretty girl his own age named Melanie (Hayden Panettiere) who can ice skate on the surface of the lake-even though to Ryan it is summer and the lake is not frozen.

The story is basically told from Ryan's point of view and we learn along with him that this new reality is a place called "The Dust Factory". The film is an allegory (the expression by symbolic means of generalizations about human existence) about the process of living; much like "Groundhog Day". The idea is that most of us just go through the motions of living (each day is just a repeat of the day before). The themes are basically the same, the importance of having the courage to live life to the fullest and to get the most out of each day.

"Groundhog Day" illustrated this by having one day keep repeating itself for the main character . "The Dust Factory" does it by creating a symbolic place between life and death. This place is populated by all those in a coma state, their bodies are alive but their conscious mind is no longer functioning. These people are allegorical and meant to symbolize those who are not living a full life. The circus ring is the point where people finally decide whether to get on with living or to get on with dying (a line borrowed from "Shawshank Redemption").

Either choice is a valid alternative depending mostly on what stage you are at in your life (the grandfather chooses death-the teenagers choose to live for a while longer). The wrong thing is being stuck there in limbo, afraid to risk it in the circus ring. Such people are called dawdlers and symbolize the day-to-day existence of many people. But "The Dust Factory" is also a place where people can pull back and take an objective and distanced look at their lives; seeing things from this perspective allows them to recognize things (like the man in the moon) they were too close to see before (can't see the forest for the trees). Those who come back have no conscious memory of the place (they have been dreaming while in a coma) but subconsciously retain things they have learned; like the Grandfather's advice to not forget that you are on a quest for paradise, and that a fear of dying or hurting keeps you from letting go of security and really living. It takes some work to sort this film out and it probably should be viewed several times because it withholds a lot of its pleasure from the first viewing. The cast does a first-rate job. Panettiere is unexpectedly effective. In her prior film work, her extreme self-assurance overwhelms the character she is playing and works against her performances. Here she plays someone who uses a cocky attitude to hide her fear and insecurity. This multi- dimensionality connects with viewers who then relate to the protectiveness Ryan develops toward Melanie.

The movie goes out on a painfully sappy duet "Someone Like You," performed by Panettiere and Kelley (she can sing-he cannot). My advice would be to hit the off button very early in the closing credits.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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