Check out this quirky fantasy for a visual feast, eccentric characters, and surprises.
As I’ve mentioned before, Thor and I have a hard time finding new movies or shows that we like. (We are undoubtedly dinosaurs with a sweet spot for movies from the 80s or 90s, or in my case, even older.) We find especially problematic the shows touted as comedy that just come off as mean or too unpleasantly embarrassing/humiliating for the characters. So when Thor’s stepson texted that we needed to watch “Dust Bunny,” a 2025 film from Bryan Fuller, we had no idea what to expect, but figured we’d give it a shot. We truly enjoyed it!
The story starts with a little girl hiding under her blankets in bed while dust bunnies swirl and gather into a monster that makes her scream. The concept of a dust bunny as monster is a fun one that gains momentum as the movie progresses. The girl, Aurora (played by amazing new performer Sophie Sloan), is a precocious ten-year-old foster child who believes her parents were killed by the monster. When she witnesses her “Intriguing Neighbor” (no name, played by an excellent Mads Mikkelsen) kill an attacking group of assassins, she finds an inventive way to scrounge up some cash (a great little scene in an eccentric church) and offers to hire hit-man Neighbor to kill the monster:
Aurora: Is that enough money to procure your services?
Intriguing Neighbor: I haven’t counted it. How do you know the word procure?
Aurora: Word a day calendar.
The interactions between the spunky, deadpan little girl and the hit man are amusing, offbeat, and oddly touching, as he agrees to help her, partly because he believes her parents were killed by people targeting himself.
I won’t spoil the twisty plot, but it involves a mysterious older woman (hilariously played by Sigourney Weaver) who might be Intriguing Neighbor’s boss. At one point, she makes use of her revolver-stiletto heels. Another notable character is Conspicuously Inconspicuous Man (played by David Dastmalchian, whom we also enjoyed in the “Murder Bot” series).
A vivid character in itself is the apartment building where Aurora and Neighbor live. It’s a fantastically painted old building with extravagant flourishes and filled with odd furnishings. Especially notable is the large, wheeled, hippo-shaped ottoman that Aurora rides around the apartment by poling with a broom so she won’t have to touch the floor and trigger a Dust Bunny attack.
If you’re looking for something different, give it a shot! It earned Thor’s rare approval: “I usually know where movies are going, but with this one, I had no idea.”
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). It’s also a love letter to the stunning beauty of her native Pacific Northwest wild places. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
