Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: AMERICAN DESERT [Brooklyn Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

The path to recovery is individual to people and different personalities deal with the pressure of life in separate ways. "American Desert", the opening night film of the 2021 Brooklyn Film Festival, knows what it wants to be and is earnest in the purity of what it wants to show. With two great looking stars in Will Brandt and Ruby Modine who puts themselves through hell, there is a great underlying structure but much of the acting for the most part comes off as flat and the editing style shoddy at best (which is too bad considering the possible potential. There are interesting moments for sure but not enough to coalesce. Like drug tales of recent, it removes the veneer. There is pain and much of it is built in the lack of understanding of non-veterans. Brandt moved around as a kid and saw the military life as the child of a military family which keys into the idea which he came up with in concert with the director. His character Matt has very little to return to but his life tends to swirl down even as he is trying to do the right thing. Ruby Modine, who was seen in "Happy Death Day" and "Shameless" plays an equally broken soul albeit for very different reasons. Michael Ironside plays a person of darkness that brings them both into his web. Ironside still possesses that character trait and intensity and yet a lot of it is here one dimensional in terms of any motivation of the character beyond simple malice. As a result, at one point, his character simply drifts off.

Only in the final act does the film take on a different feel but its resolve is very disconnected in a way despite its reality. The desert landscapes in this section are definitely stark and the metaphor of the desert does ring true. Brandt brings an earnestness that dwells beneath his model looks while Modine parallels in a proud girl who simply cannot control her demons in a situation that is both untenable and yet fated. The metaphor of modern veteran perception in a way is sad since it is true that many of soldiers return home without adequate medical care or supervision especially in a mental capacity which causes a retreat into other coping mechanisms, not the least of which is opioids. "American Desert" has a good heart but its low budget production value and inconsistent acting and/or directing in concert with a choppy editing structure make it hit on some specific points while missing on others. C-

By Tim Wassberg