Joshua Erkman (director and co-writer) and Bossi Baker (co-writer) are certainly going to be names to look out for in the future. Both of them have teamed together to direct and co-write their first feature, A Desert, which focuses on the underbelly of America for someone who wishes to relive the better days of the country. That is the most simplistic way to describe the plot, but it is so much more than this, and feels anthological in moments. Each “story” is self-contained but is also interconnected with the others with a graphic, disturbing, and truly wild third act that has to be seen to be fully believed.
The film focuses on Alex Clark (Kai Lennox) as he is trying to recreate the photographs he has taken in the past. He wants to reignite his spark that he had for photography and re-kindle his love of the craft. He travels through Nevada, Arizona, California, and so forth to discover his passion yet again. Tirelessly driving through the West Coast trying to find his love of photography again, he ends up calling it a night at a dodgy motel that is manned by the clerk (William Bookston). Alex finds himself struggling to fall asleep due to the excessive noise from the room next door which happens to be occupied by Renny and Susie Q (Zachary Ray Sherman and Ashley B. Smith, respectively). What happens next is something straight out of a late-night movie but becomes something much more sinister and disturbed than most of those videos ever get, something more along the lines of a snuff film than the other alluded to subject matter. As we close this chapter though, we meet Sam Clark (Sarah Lind), Alex’s wife.
Kai Lennox as Alex Clark in A DESERT. Photo Credit: Yellow Veil Pictures. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
As days pass and Sam doesn’t hear from Alex for a while, she enlists the help of a private detective, Harold Palladino (David Yow) to try and find Alex. Harold is convinced that Alex isn’t the man that Sam think’s he is and he has just disappeared to be with another woman, a theory Sam adamantly is against and hates. Harold needing the money and not wanting to lose a client, goes and searches for Alex anyway and ends up at the same hotel Alex was at where he met Renny and Susie Q. Eventually, Harold ends up meeting them, as well, and he suddenly loses contact with Sam, too. Sam decides to take it upon herself to find Harold and, moreover, Alex, and this unleashes the chaotic tornado of hell that has been insinuated about and hinted at throughout the film.
What works for A Desert is the fact that the movie is so interwoven into nostalgia with the drive to rekindle one’s spark and the American coast, chasing the American Dream. However, as we’ve learned from other movies of photographers (recently Alex Garland’s Civil War), being a photographer in the United States can be horrifying, and the things we uncover along the way may be some of the most disturbing aspects of it all. Erkman and Baker construct a story that understands this and the direction by Erkman is simply fantastic, capturing the true horror of the underbelly of America. However, the true behind-the-camera stars here are Jay Keitel, the cinematographer, and Ty Segall, who composed the movie. They capture the essence of the film and induce sheer terror with incredible photography and sound design, making A Desert one of the most bone-chilling movies of the year and evoking such terror within the audience that will have them shaking in their seats.
Screening during Tribeca Film Festival 2024.
In select theaters May 2nd, 2025.
For more information, head either to the official A Desert Tribeca 2024 webpage or Dark Sky Films webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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