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Alex (Kai Lennox), the hero of Joshua Erkman\u2019s languid, atmospheric neo-noir \u201cA Desert,\u201d is a photographer past his prime. His first book, a collection of landscapes channeling the desuetude of small-town America, put him on the map 20 years ago, and now he\u2019s cruising the highways and byways of the Yucca Valley in California, chasing his former glory.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s in the nature of stories like this to offer its hero the reprieve of a disruption, and it arrives, violently, in the form of Renny (Zachary Ray Sherman), a lanky, keyed-up stranger Alex befriends at a roadside motel. Renny is clearly bad news, and for about 40 minutes, it seems obvious where \u201cA Desert\u201d is going. But Erkman\u2019s screenplay is slyly intelligent, and in the second act the film takes a sharp turn that is genuinely shocking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Erkman\u2019s use of stark lighting \u2014 high beams cutting through the desert night \u2014 evokes \u201cLost Highway,\u201d and there\u2019s some \u201cMulholland Drive\u201d in the underworld theatrics detailed on the story\u2019s periphery. Lynch is a difficult influence to wield responsibly, yet Erkman keeps it largely under control: \u201cA Desert,\u201d if at times too ambitious, certainly feels distinct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s a strange film, but it works, and feels grounded, because of its ensemble cast. Both Lennox and Sarah Lind, as Alex\u2019s wife, Sam, are serious and convincing, and the musician David Yow, as an oddball private detective following in Alex\u2019s wake, gives the movie some idiosyncratic flair. But the highlight is Sherman, whose menacing Renny is truly creepy and, when he really goes berserk, electrifying.<\/p>\n
A Desert<\/strong>
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n