Desert Bloom (1986)

Taking its place somewhere between Bill Forsythe's knowing, delicate, adolescent character study Housekeeping and Tony Richardson's dark period melodrama Blue Sky, Eugene Corr's Desert Bloom often runs the risk of crossing the line from slice-of-life epiphanies to soap opera pathos. Luckily, the film's performances reign in its tendency to romanticize its period signifiers and none-too-subtle atomic-age backdrop. As the blowsy sister-in-law who stirs up a variety of trouble -- both hormonal and otherwise -- Ellen Barkin threatens to walk away with the picture. Without resorting to flamboyant tics or floozy stereotypes, Barkin inhabits a life that the other performers -- trapped in the script's literate, young-adult novella-quality narrative -- can't seem to muster. That doesn't stop them from trying, however, and Annabeth Gish and JoBeth Williams both manage to find solid supporting ground opposite Barkin and a slightly overblown Jon Voight. Desert Bloom was one of the first films to be backed by the support of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide