Desierto review: An edge-of-your-seat chase movie. Brutal, intense and well-paced.
Desierto review
Jonás Cuarón, son of Alfonso, directs this fast-paced action-thriller that stars Gael García Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Desierto arrives at the BFI London Film Festival following a world debut at last month’s Toronto Film Festival.
The film, Jonás Cuarón’s second feature following the 2007 indie Year Of The Nail (Año uña), revolves around a group of Mexican immigrants who have just illegally crossed the Mexico/ United States border. As they step onto US soil, they stumble into the path of Sam (Jeffrey Dead Morgan), a loner who is taking it upon himself to patrol the area and enforce his own version of border control. Picking off eight members of the travelling Mexican pack with his high-powered rifle in a matter of minutes, killing them instantly, Sam and his blood-thirsty dog Tracker then go after the remainder of the group, across the brutal, hostile environment of the desert.
Desierto review
Desierto is certainly not the kind of film that I expected from the son of Alfonso Cuarón, the award-winning director of Gravity, a film that 34-year-old Jonás also co-scripted. That’s not to say that it is a bad film; in fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Violent from the off, and unrelenting in terms on the tension that runs through its core, Desierto is essentially a chase movie, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s excellent turn as the alcoholic, totally racist Sam taking the law into his own hands and brutally taking out each of the Mexican immigrants with absolutely no remorse. Morgan’s performance is superb; a mostly silent role with his only scenes of dialogue largely a one-way conversation with his hunting dog Tracker. In fact, dialogue is kept to a minumun throughout the film’s 94-minute run time, which moves along at break-neck speed that however, doesn’t grants us much time to engage with any character.
Desierto review
With the group having to not only contend with the horrors of the pursuing, savage Sam, but also the dangers of the remote environment; lack of water, dangerous rocks, and venemous rattlesnkes etc, they are certainly up against it. Cuarón and Mateo Garcia‘s tight script is very heavy on the action and thrill factor, and light on the political questions that could have been raised (see the recent accompanying, and much deeper piece Cartel Land). Cuarón’s direction is solid, and the action so gripping and so tense that you’ll be shifting around in your seat as the film progresses; the tension hightend as the dramatic finale approaches.
Certainly a film that is less taxing on the brain than other films that have tackled the immigration issues that the US faces every day, but with a great turn by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and some great ideas from a well-paced, tight screenplay, Desierto is a great chase flick that certainly delivers the goods.
Desierto review by Paul Heath, October, 2015.
Desierto plays at the BFI London Film Festival, 2015. It is currently awaiting a general UK/ US release.
