A Sad Flower in the Sand

The almost forgotten story of John Fante and his 1939 novel "Ask the Dust". Writer Charles Bukowski said about the book, "Nothing I read ever got to me like this man who wasn't afraid of emotion." In 1972, while Robert Towne, screenwriter and director, was writing his screenplay Chinatown, he discovered John Fante. Looking for writing that would suggest the way people spoke in the 30s, he found the "best piece of literature I've read on Los Angeles." Fante's writing was true and honest, and it "sang." The film unfolds as a road trip through Fante's LA, mainly Bunker Hill, and depicts the hopes and deceptions he experienced. Fante arrived in town when he was 20, with very little money in his pocket and a typewriter in his arms. Fante's love for this city where he dreamt of fame and fortune provides the film's unifying thread. Archival footage heightens the feeling of being in the '30s, and even the contemporary footage of old facades seems straight out of an Edward Hopper painting.