Directed by Joshua Erkman, A Desert, tells a tangled narrative web centred on one photographer’s road trip from Hell. Alex Clark (Kai Lennox) is working his way across dusty and deserted America, photographing abandoned factories, ancient pet cemeteries, and random locals. Then, one night he encounters brother and sister Renny (Zachary Ray Sherman) and Susie Q (Ashley B. Smith) at a motel and his life, and the lives of those connected to him, are forever changed.
To say much more about A Desert’s plot would spoil the viewing experience, but suffice to say Erkamn and co-writer Bossi Baker have created a story that is deliciously devious. This is a film that is in a constant state of movement, its narrative fluidity being one of its key strengths. A Desert’s failure to conform to standard structure means that even the most savvy of viewers will be placed into the position of Alex as they too become blindsided by events as they unfold. Erkman’s refusal to stick A Desert into a tidy box serves to excite audiences. Too many films over explain themselves to appease the most casual of watchers, ending up as dull repetitions of what has come before. A Desert however, remains its own vividly ferocious beast.
The cinematography by Jay Keitel beautifully captures the vastness of the desert terrain, and the emptiness of the venues that Alex is photographing. Keitel manages to infuse the dusty heat of the location into each frame. There’s a sweatiness to the imagery that helps transport the audience fully inside of the film, leaving them yearning for a nice cool drink or blast of air conditioning. It’s a remarkable feat, but a vital point of connection given the story’s fractured construction. Accompanying the evocative cinematography is a lot of quiet. Erkman opts to allow the sounds of nature to encroach on the viewer, causing them to withdraw further into this sweaty nightmare. What score there is, is infrequent and jazzy, disorientating the audience, transporting them to an almost fugue-like state from which to experience this wicked and wild world.
Although Alex provides the introduction to the story, A Desert really is an ensemble piece. In addition to Lennox, there are fantastic turns from Sarah Lind as Alex’ worried wife Sam, as well as Sherman and Smith as the depraved Renny and Susie. Smith is channelling her inner Alabama Worley whilst simultaneously scuzzing her up, and Sherman is exceptional as the unhinged Renny. Those familiar with his body of work may recall him playing high-school psycho, Jasper, in Beverly Hills rival 90210, but in A Desert he ramps that creepiness up ten fold. Together the duo conjure up the pairing of Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt in the film Kalifornia, but they are far more dangerous.
If Sherman and Smith are A Desert’s parasitic viruses, Lind is the films beating heart. Having wowed with her recent turn in A Wounded Fawn, here Lind gets to show another side to her talents with Sam’s presence and anxiety felt even from through a phone. As Sam comes into focus, her emotions overwhelm the screen, adding a necessary empathetic outlet for the viewer. To have one talented cast member on a feature is a blessing, but Erkman is truly gifted by a game team of players who aren’t afraid to get a little bloody in order to get to the truth of their characters.
As all the characters vie for attention, they are steered down the darkest and bloodiest of roads, creating a neo noir that screams filth and ferocity. Though Erkman has clearly been inspired by scuzzy road movies, the meanness of the desert, The Vanishing, and even Alfred Hitchcok, A Desert is unlike anything else, which makes it utterly irresistible. Hypnotic performances bleed onto sweaty and oppressive visuals creating a potent atmosphere that will delight those with a thirst for the darkside.
A Desert
Summary
Like the jazz score that occasionally punctuates the images, A Desert is free-form, loose, and unpredictable in all the best ways.
A Desert was reviewed at TriBeCa 2024.
