dougdoepke Sensitively told coming-of-age film set against Las Vegas and the early years of atomic testing. Rose (Annabeth Gish) is thirteen and very much wants to connect with stepdad Jack (Jon Voight), an alcoholic WWII veteran still possessed by the demons of combat. Trouble is, she's operating on one track, while he's operating on two, such that just when they seem at last to converge, he goes off on a delusionary binge. Movie is notable for the exceptionally fine performances of these two actors. Gish, tottering atop two gawky legs and peering out from the cosmetic curse of horned-rim glasses, is the very real, aching embodiment of adolescent angst. Hers has to be one of the finest, least mannered renderings of teen-age yearning and self-doubt in many, many years, and made even me, a hardened old curmudgeon, feel kindly toward the hopelessly pubescent. Voight's character is less sympathetic and more complex. Victimized by the evils of war and beset by alcohol and impotence, he's having trouble with his masculinity in a house full of women. He wants to fulflill a positive role for his wife and stepdaughters, but the inner turmoil keeps erupting unpredictably.You want Jack and Rose to connect, to heal one another's emotional wounds, but circumstance is against them. Movie leaves off on suitably ambiguous note as atomic test parallels emotional family blowup. We know time will take care of Rose's problems, but what of Jack. Film is not so much about dysfunction as it is about adolescence and the walking wounds of war, such that you'll remember the characters long after the various plot complications have subsided. What a fine piece of non-commercial movie making this is thanks to Sundance Productions and writer-director Eugene Corr. Their work along with that of the entire cast shows once again why "the obscure little movie with something to say" continues to be one of our finest film traditions.

MartianOctocretr5 Intensely emotional, so much so, that it's hard to watch in places. Jon Voight's performance of a WWII veteran tortured and twisted mentally by his war experiences is intimidating, even volatile.The story is set in the '50's, at a time when the U.S. is testing nuclear weapons at a base north of Las Vegas. Jack Chismore (Voight), the veteran, and his family live in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas. There are parallel stories, weaving the news of the nuclear technology around the conflicts of Chismore's mental cruelty and abusive behavior to his family; in particular, his coming-of-age daughter Rose (Annabeth Gish). Gish is sensational in this role; she holds her own in verbal sparring with the always skillful Jon Voight. You really feel her frustration, and love to hate Chismore. The latter, though, slowly becomes more sympathetic as you understand his suffering more.Coming-of-age stories have a few standard plot lines, but they're handled tenderly and resist exploitation here. Rose has a boy friend, and she's learning the facts of not only her own personal life, but the ugly and frightening facts of the world simultaneously.The final image is riveting; in a single shot, the twin points of loss of innocence--Rose's, as well the world's--are melded together brilliantly with a single camera shot. A fine movie with a powerful theme.

Rob Bowling (RocketInNYC) I really like this movie... it is a great period piece of the 1950s. I think people forget that a period piece doesn't have to be of some century-ago. The acting is excellent all-around, although the voice-overs are a bit much.

shrine-2 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.