Desert Bloom Review
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 otherwise -- Ellen_Barkin threatens to walk away with the picture. Without resorting to flamboyant tics or floozy stereotypes, Barkin inhabits a life that the other performers -- trapped in the script's literate, young-adult novella-quality narrative -- can't seem to muster. That doesn't stop them from trying, however, and Annabeth_Gish and JoBeth Williams both manage to find solid supporting ground opposite Barkin and a slightly overblown Jon_Voight. Desert Bloom was one of the first films to be backed by the support of Robert_Redford's Sundance Institute. Michael Hastings, Rovi
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