Dan Rush‘s first film, Everything Must Go, is based on Raymond Carver‘s very short story, “Why Don’t You Dance” and stars Will Ferrell.

You can read the full Carver short-story here. It manages, in a 2129-word description of a yard sale, to capture seventeen visceral yet conflicting human emotions: despair, surprise, joy, regret, nonchalance, amusement, freedom, disregard, disgust, pity, lust, recognition, bitterness, loss, confusion, delight, pain. It is utterly unadorned and yet irreconcilably complex.

At The Millions, Bill Morris, whose opinion I respect, claims the film version is good:

Rush wisely ignores the ticking and sets a leisurely pace, lets the camera linger, lets his actors build emotional momentum slowly, quietly.  This is important to a Carver story, as Marilynne Robinson noted back in 1988: “His impulse to simplify is like an attempt to create a hush, not to hear less, but to hear better.”

And that’s what this movie comes down to – Nick’s process of learning how to hear, and see, better….It works beautifully because Ferrell conveys an almost impossible stew of emotions – rage, self-pity, insecurity and a dry sense of humor that never comes close to turning hammy.  What a pleasant pair of surprises: there’s a new director worth watching, and Will Ferrell can actually act.

The trailer, I have to say, does not suggest such subtle pleasures. Indeed, it pounds away on one of the most obnoxious tropes of both Hollywood and “indie” films: a down-and-out male hero whose “good heart” can only be perceived by the beautiful female and/or a child and/or a person of color (in this case, a black boy). I haven’t seen the film yet, but every “tripe” sensor in my body is tingling. You be the judge: