Painfully intimate and told with very, very little dialogue, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt resembles the experience of flipping through a photo book and pausing to admire every page. Which is to say that this is a film that requires not only one's complete attention but—like many other arthouse dramas—a willingness to sit with the mundane until it reveals something more profound. The nearly silent nature of its storytelling can be a little awkward, given how lifelike the rest of the movie is, but one should hopefully get used to the idea that this is an attempt to represent something closer to memory than reality. Whether or not the experience sticks or strikes an emotional chord, it's all beautifully put together, with lush cinematography, impeccably detailed sound design, and thoughtful sequencing of one image after another.

The film is at its most revelatory whenever it depicts intimacy between two people. One scene in particular involves a couple occupying a lengthy moment of silence facing each other, before locking into just as lengthy an embrace. And to the impatient, disinterested viewer, this moment might appear "unnecessary." But director Raven Jackson points our attention towards the smallest ways in which these two display intimacy, turning one hug into a long, silent conversation shared privately between them.