Desert Bloom

Set in 1950, this is a convincing, well-acted drama about a young girl's growing up in Las Vegas amidst poverty and a turbulent home life. The 13-year-old Rose (Annabeth Gish) lives with her mother (JoBeth Williams), stepfather (Jon Voight), and two sisters in a working-class home. Trouble is ...more

Taking its place somewhere between Bill Forsythe's knowing, delicate, adolescent character study Housekeeping and Tony Richardson's dark period melodrama Blue Sky, Eugene Corr's Desert Bloom often runs the risk of crossing the line from slice-of-life epiphanies to soap opera pathos. Luckily, the film's performances reign in its tendency to romanticize its period signifiers and none-too-subtle atomic-age backdrop. As the blowsy sister-in-law who stirs up a variety of trouble -- both hormonal and ...more