Twentynine Palms (2003), Bruno Dumont’s controversially minimalist film, follows a couple drifting through California desert landscapes in a red Hummer, breaking long stretches of silence with fighting and feral sex. French-speaking Russian woman and her American photographer boyfriend look for locations for a photo shoot. Barely able to communicate in excess of a few French words, the couple rides around in suffocating silence and boredom. Twentynine Palms brings us face to face with human capacity for cruelty and violence as the couple’s bestial existence veers towards unexpected horror.
