SXSW Review: Stuck on "Desert Road"

By Abe Friedtanzer

Driving on a long road trip alone across the country brings with it its share of risks, especially for a woman. Encountering a few sketchy characters and breaking down somewhere far from help are well within the realm of possibility. But getting trapped somewhere and finding it impossible to leave is considerably less likely, even if it does make for a solid movie premise. That’s the situation in which one woman (Kristine Froseth) finds herself as she tries to head to a home that it seems increasingly like she’s never going to see again…

Credited simply as The Woman, this protagonist has her car packed full and tells her mother that she’s driving back to the family’s house, which doesn’t appear to be based on any invitation she received. She stops in at a gas station and has a creepy interaction with the attendant (Max Mattern), and negates her protective lie that her boyfriend is in the car when she leaves her phone inside and the attendant comes out to give it to her. After hitting a rock with her car, she returns to the station to get help, only to find that every direction she walks takes her back to the same frustrating place with little hope of making any actual progress.

Desert Road marks the directorial debut of Shannon Triplett, whose credits mainly include visual effects work. In statements about the film, she describes the inspiration of her boyfriend getting lost in the desert during a long run and how this story spiraled out of that. Its events definitely can’t be explained logically, but that’s the appeal, to see how a person behaves when it’s clear that things don’t make sense, but they have to keep going to comprehend and follow whatever rules now exist to survive.

Froseth is a strong choice for this lead role, and she anchors the film in a very compelling way, vocalizing many of her options out loud to herself and refusing to give up even when it looks like there’s truly no way out. Froseth has had an impressive career over the last half-decade, highlighted by starring in Lena Dunham’s tepidly-received Sharp Stick (our review) and playing a young Betty Ford in the quickly-canceled Showtime series The First Lady. She’s also been seen recently in The Buccaneers and American Horror Stories, and it’s great to see her back in films, taking on challenging parts that demand much of her given the absence of major supporting characters.

Like all speculative sci-fi that purposely isn’t grounded in reality and makes its own rules, this film won’t be for everyone. But for those willing to be immersed and to ask how they might act in such a situation, it’s an unexpected and impressively engrossing film that makes the most of its ninety minutes and manages to reach a conclusion that feels just as perfect and fitting as it should be, giving audiences back exactly what they’ve invested on this harrowing and mind-bending journey. B+ 

Desert Road makes its world premiere in the Narrative Spotlight section at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival.