Rebuilding

Rebuilding 

Written & Directed by Max Walker-Silverman

What do you do when you're a cowboy, your entire life and identity is your farmland, and you lose all of it in a devastating wildfire? That's when we meet Dusty, a quiet young man, who just a couple months ago lost his entire ranch. Not just lost but full scorched earth, nothing will grow there in years he's told. Almost shell shocked from the whole ordeal, Dusty (along with a handful of other local victims of the fire) stay in a makeshift FEMA camp. Just a few trailers on an old deserted plot of land. What is he, and everyone else going to do next?

REBUILDING is not as interested in answering those questions as you'd expect. Breakout star Josh O'Connor (and my current boyfriend) gives a commanding performance, all quiet tones and glances that tell entire stories. We follow Dusty through the back roads of rural Colorado, with some of the most amazing landscape photography I've seen on film in quite some time. 

You see Dusty has an ex-wife and a young daughter and in one of many many Show Don't Tell moments, we get the impression that Dusty wasn't around much before the fire. Not a deadbeat, but completely absorbed in his farmwork and cowboy life. Perhaps the silver lining in all of this is the reconnection with his family, but grief takes time and Dusty is grieving his old life while hopeful he can rebuild.

In these trying times, now more than ever it's clear no one is coming to save you. REBUILDING is about allowing yourself to ask for and receive the help you need. About the importance of community, and seriously just be nice and sweet once in a while. For a slow burn almost poetic 90 minutes it's clear where the film is ultimately going, yet I still found myself surprised by the conclusion. All leading to an absolutely dynamite final shot/line that moved me deeply. 

This is the kind of movie my mom would've eaten up, cried at and then rejoiced in. It's never too late to rebuild your life and start fresh. 

☆☆☆1/2 out of 4