[SXSW 2024] DESERT ROAD -- Nonsensical Sci-Fi Doesn't Trust the Audience

Review by Sean Boelman

Credit: Nico Navia

Shane Carruth is one of the worst things to happen to indie cinema this century. He inspired a generation of filmmakers to create indecipherably dense indie sci-fi films that are overambitious to a fault. Shannon Triplett’s Desert Road is the latest in that unwelcome subgenre of cinema. However, what makes it so much worse is that it’s infuriatingly dumb despite its noble attempts at intelligence.

The movie follows a woman who crashes her car in the middle of the desert, only to find herself trapped in a loop where she always ends up back at her car. You may be shocked to learn that this is not, in fact, an expansion of a short, as it is the type of high-concept filmmaking that’s heavy on ideas but weak on execution you would expect from that.

The most frustrating thing about Desert Road is how little it trusts the audience. The moment in which this becomes most painfully obvious is when the protagonist is trying to decipher her situation, as she writes theories down in her journal (which we can see through unfathomably sharp cinematography, so kudos to Nico Navia) and also reads them out loud. Although a certain level of exposition is expected from a sci-fi film like this, the amount in Desert Road is nearly insulting.

It might not be all that insufferable were it not for the fact that the pacing is atrocious. The movie takes its sweet time to get moving, with a solid fifteen minutes spent in set-up before we even get to the inciting incident. Then, we go through the obligatory “mysterious” phase before finally getting into the final act, which is incredibly rushed. Even at a mere 90 minutes, the film feels anything but brisk and merciful.

Furthermore, the character motivations don’t make much sense. The protagonist is given a generic backstory for traveling cross country and a lesson she must learn, but you’ll forget both as soon as the credits roll. Pretty much everything you learn about the characters goes out the window in the third act anyway in what seems to be an attempt at a “twist” that instead comes off as lazy writing.

It really is a shame, as Triplett assembled a decent cast. Kristine Froseth has the chops and charisma to be a great lead, but the character she is given has no personality. Beau Bridges, Frances Fisher, and Ryan Hurst all give valiant efforts in the supporting cast, but their dialogue is so laughable that it’s almost embarrassing. 

Triplett also clearly has a skilled eye as a director, likely owing to her work in the visual effects department on several major blockbusters. You’d almost expect a bit more effects work in a debut from someone with that resumé, but what we get is a mostly confined and generally effectively-shot indie.

Still, it’s hard to shake some of the writing issues with Desert Road. Nearly all the pieces are here for Shannon Triplett’s debut to be a knockout, except for one fundamental element: a strong script. Triplett either needed to make less ambitious swings or follow through on the ones she made, but the movie, as it stands, is incredibly frustrating.

Desert Road is screening at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, which runs March 8-16 in Austin, TX.

​Rating: 1.5/5