A young girl hires a hitman to kill the monster under her bed in Bryan Fuller’s wildly inventive, beautifully designed, and just plain fun Dust Bunny.
Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny will likely slide under the bed for most audiences, unaware of its wonderfully innovative existence as they sleep on it, or over it to continue the metaphor. It’s a wild, strange, and wholly original flick of childlike innocence and imagination in a world of violence and hitmen; it’s a weird mix, but it works thanks to a bevy of great character actors, a hilarious script, and astounding production design.
It’s weird to think Dust Bunny is writer-director Bryan Fuller’s first theatrical feature film, in either the writer’s or director’s chair. The celebrated TV creator-writer of Hannibal, the American Gods adaptation, Star Trek: Discovery, Pushing Daisies, and (a favorite forgotten series of mine) Dead Like Me, has written TV movies like 2002’s surprisingly solid Carrie (meant as a pilot for an Angela Bettis-led series, but exists only as a film) and The Amazing Screw-on Head. In fact, this is his first time directing fiction, with the only other credit as two episodes of Shudder’s Queer for Fear documentary series. It’s a shame, as Fuller creates a great film, showing amazing skill in the technical craft, along with performances. It comes together so incredibly well; he’s obviously learned a great deal from the other half of his career.
There’s a sort of Amblin energy, of a kid’s story in an adult world, and how they mesh, mash, and conflict. The story finds young Aurora, Sophie Sloan, in a truly fantastic children’s performance. She hires her hit man neighbor, Hannibal’s Mads Mikkleson, in a fully committed high-bar go; he doesn’t do much comedy, but he lands so well, to kill the monster under her bed. Seems like kids’ stuff, right? But there’s a darkness under the candy-coated outside. Recall a sentence ago, Mads is a hitman. This whole John Wickish cabal of criminals (including David Dastmalchian as “Conspicuously Inconspicuous Man”; a name that indicates the tone) moves in around, setting up further levels of hilarious interplay as the questions of what might be the truth in the situation and how this world works. I love a film so innovative and sure of itself and cast to allow not only to take very odd directions, but also allow me, someone who watches so many movies, to have no true idea how it’ll play. Though the mixture of childhood whinsey and adult truths, monsters, too-cool-hitman humor, unexpected violence, and whatever it is Sigourney Weaver (as Mads’s boss, giving a Parker Posey-esque go) is doing, it’s so nice to see something original, even as I make mention of other properties and Fuller is fully aware of his influences. But something can be both original and cliché; that’s the nature of how film can work. 
Dust Bunny could take place in the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events. In tone, the way people move, act, and specifically, how it looks. I mean the comparison to book series and TV show (and movie, I guess, it’s a weak film but visually gets it) in the highest regard. Both properties seem unmoored in time and place in a sort of magical realism. It’s simultaneously modern-day New York, 60s France, 30s London, the backstreets of Hong Kong, and more. The candy-colored, intricately designed production makes all a wry commitment; a visual, imagination-driven treat of a mix of Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson, Series of Unfortunate Events, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Pointed costume choices bring the concept home; I’m going to have to put a photo of one of Sheila Atim’s glorious mod outfits. There are more than a few giallo touches with costume choices (black gloves), some color use, and a few shots (the film has enough horror elements to slide into the genre, although I’ve not really gotten into it on the review).. Even if the movie around it didn’t work (and again, it does), one can soak in the look and appreciate the skill, so thanks to Jeremy Reed. Fuller chose the shoot in a very wide screen with cinematographer Nicole Hiersch Whitaker. It doesn’t really add much to the film, as it’s not utilized except to highlight the fantastic design; the action and person placement are usually centered.
Dust Bunny has a zooming energy, blasting through its 108 minutes (breathless editing by Lisa Lassek) as Aurora tries to convince Mads of the murder bunny, he tries to figure out what happened to her parents, the assassins come closer, and even law enforcement barrels into each other.; not to mention the horror monster under the floor. With that speed, some peculiar aspects don’t have as much time to breathe, or sequences are cut off. But it’s a wild, weird, and wacky film, and even if not everything works, what does is with energetic aplomb and anarchy.
Gotta love any movie that blasts Abba at us as the credits begin to roll. Besides Mamma Mia. That’s an exception (as much as I dislike the first, I rather enjoy the sequel… weird). A film ending on just the right needle drop is such a great way to pep the audience once last time, providing the perfect button as we clear out (see also: The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side by Magnetic Fields, closing Caught Stealing).
Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny shows just how strong Fuller can be in more theatrical endeavors after a career in high-concept television. Moored by a fantastic kid performance in Sloan, surrounded by committed character actors in Mikkelson, Weaver, and Dastmalchian, all living in a high aesthetic world; it’s a wonder why Dust Bunny has barely been marketed and pushed, as it’s a new favorite for the year.