Perhaps best to refer to this as an introverted film so that those who expect some action, especially from Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek, will not be disappointed.  It is a portrait of a young would-be novelist, a portrait very much from the inside, an interior monologue that we are allowed to see.

For those who like dramas about artists, slowly paced and somewhat intense, Ask the Dust can be recommended.

John Fante wrote a series of novels in the 1930s, autobiographically based, with the character, Arturo Bandini, a young man from an Italian family in Colorado who comes to Los Angeles at the end of the 1920s hoping to write and become famous.  With encouragement from H.L.Mencken, he has some short stories published and embarks on his great novel.  He wants to be and to appear as a Californian American.

In his stony broke days, he encounters a Mexican waitress, Camilla, who dreams of marrying an American and living the American dream.  Arturo is attracted but, despite himself, puts her down all the time.  Eventually, a relationship develops but she feels that he despises her and he cannot express his true feelings.

As portrayed by Colin Farrell, Arturo is a charming but complex and, at times, exasperating character.  Salma Hayek has no difficulty in playing Camilla.  Also on the scene are Donald Sutherland as a gassed veteran of World War One who wanders around borrowing money and Idina Menzel (Rent) as a Jewish girl who becomes obsessed with the writer.

The film is written and directed by Robert Towne who wrote a number of screenplays, the most famous of which is Chinatown.  In fact, this film, while different in mood and plot, is not far from Chinatown in its detailed and loving portrait of a Los Angeles that was on the frontiers and on the edge in those days and has now disappeared.  It is quite an exercise in nostalgia.  However, the film was shot in South Africa and the Los Angeles sets constructed there.

If you are in the mood and patient, Ask the Dust has much to offer.

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