All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is a 2023 American drama film written and directed by Raven Jackson in her feature-film directorial debut. It stars Charleen McClure, Moses Ingram, Reginald Helms Jr., Zainab Jah, Sheila Atim, and Chris Chalk. Barry Jenkins serves as a producer under his Pastel banner. The film has very little spoken dialogue.
It had its world premiere in the U.S. Dramatic competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023 and was released by A24 on November 3, 2023. It received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 10 independent films of 2023 by the National Board of Review.
Contents
Plot
The film charts the growth, loves, and heartbreaks of a Black woman in Mississippi, from her childhood through to her adult years.
Cast
Charleen McClure as Mack
Kaylee Nicole Johnson as young Mack
Zainab Jah as older Mack
Moses Ingram as Josie
Jayah Henry as young Josie
Reginald Helms Jr. as Wood
Preston McDowell as young Wood
Sheila Atim as Evelyn
Chris Chalk as Isaiah
Production
In February 2021, it was announced that Raven Jackson would write and direct the film, with Barry Jenkins set to serve as a producer under his Pastel banner, and A24 set to produce and distribute.
Principal photography took place in Tennessee and in Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi in the fall of 2021.
Release
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023. It also screened at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2023 New York Film Festival. The film was released by A24 on November 3, 2023.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "For viewers willing and able to adjust to its leisurely, recursive rhythm, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is a beautifully elegant exploration of grief and longing." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Richard Brody, in The New Yorker, described it as the most distinctive film of 2023 from a strict perspective of inventive narrative form.