A line of people flows down 16th Street, right in the heart of the Mission District. Moviegoers fill the street with laughter and chatter as they wait to enter the Little Roxie, one of the two Roxie theaters. Once the doors open, the line scrambles to get their digital tickets out. The 50-seat theater, while a tight fit, has room for the audience to enjoy the film of the evening: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.
An A24 film by director and writer Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt explores the power of cinematic storytelling through intimate scenes with minimal dialogue. The film follows the 5-decade-long story of Mack, a Black woman living in rural Mississippi, and the impact of generations of familial traditions.
Mack grows up fishing with her father and eating fish with her family. As Mack runs her fingers across the scales of the fish in the opening scene, the audience becomes aware of the intent of this film: to bring sensory experience to the big screen. Mack’s curiosity is rampant as she watches her mother apply her lipstick with adoring eyes. She stares in awe as she sees her mother and father dancing, the camera zooming in on their hands intertwined. As she grows older, Mack experiences her first love and deep heartbreak. Eventually, she has children of her own, teaching them the fishing practices that were central to her childhood.
Beautiful visuals make for scenes that allow the audience to be engulfed by the same emotions Mack feels throughout these varying moments of her life. From an intimate hug—which was given minutes of screen time—to a still fishing scene that focuses on the beautiful rustic mountains and luscious greenery of Mississippi, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt allows the audience to reflect and sit with silence, something needed from time to time.
photo courtesy of Public Domain
Despite the beautiful visuals, the film lacks a specific plot point to keep the audience engaged for the entirety of the movie. At one point, I drifted off to sleep, not entirely motivated to continue watching a film that felt dragged on and lacked the fast-paced adventure of a film I might usually watch in a theater.
There were only two things that kept me from falling asleep. #1: fitting in with the suave and eclectic room of movie-watchers I found myself surrounded with, and #2: the fact that I had to get a basic understanding of the film to write this very review. Eventually, the desire to sleep outweighed these two reasons to stay awake.
I would not recommend the film to those who crave the adventure and stimulation of a blockbuster film. In an interview at the New York Film Festival, Jackson stated that the film intended to take the audience on an emotional journey, regardless of if it did not follow the traditional plot-to-plot shot film that movie-goers traditionally seek. Jackson paces the film unconventionally, moving through different decades. In the film, scenes picturing Mack as a grown adult are followed by scenes of her as a toddler.
While those who bore easily might not be the intended audience, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt overwhelms the audience with the emotions that make up life, making the target demographic one who can appreciate the stunning cinematography. This film pushed my view of the boundaries in modern-day cinematography with scenic overload and limited dialogue, even though it also made me fall asleep. While boredom may be unavoidable for some of her viewers, Jackson ultimately produces something sensorially breathtaking.
