The mushroom cloud at the end of "Desert Bloom" carries a hypnotic power like nothing else in this movie. It takes you by surprise, because not much of what goes before it holds you. The strange beauty of that atomic bomb going off is caught in the eye of Rose, a teenager struggling to make sense out of her relationship with her abusive stepfather. She cannot figure where she stands with him. One moment he's affectionate and protective, the next moment he's threatening and abusive. It makes her sullen and morose, and if it were not for her fun-loving Aunt Starr (Ellen Barkin), she would probably have run away back to the arms of her loving grandmother. Instead she learns how to cope with his inconsistencies and violence; and when Annabelle Gish looks out onto the lit horizon, you see a look of fearlessness in her eyes, as if to tell us that Rose has finally learned how to conquer her fears, and has learned how to blossom even in the most trying desert heat. Gish's performance is unpretentious; and her smile lights up the screen. But it's too little to keep us fully interested in the story, and most of the talented cast (Jon Voight, Jo Beth Williams) strains to do something with it. Allan Garfield is the only one who makes a mark; he's slimmer and more generous than he has been in the past. Playing a concerned neighbor, Garfield makes you wonder if a pod had fallen from the sky and reinvented him.
Review of Desert Bloom
