Desert Son

Every so often an Indie film comes out that knocks your socks off. Desert Son fills the bill.

It's a tight little stage-play: three kids, the ones you see above on bicycles, just happen to live on the fringes of society in a dusty ghost-town. They're a hapless lot: two twenty somethings who have done something illegal in the past and a teen they find abandoned in the desert.

The wonder of the film is how the three interact. The savagery of human nature, as shown once in Lord of the Flies, is alive and well. A bully rules, a girlfriend tries to bolt, and a kid strives to be heroic. Sartre's No Exit comes to mind, where hell is other people.

You'll be glued to the story as the tension between the three mounts. Who will dominate? Can the three survive on their own? Will they resort to violence? How will they escape the human bondage they create?

Oh my, what a thriller! Hands down, one of the most unusual films in recent years. Can't be a spoiler, but you'll revel in this chilling piece. Just don't judge the film by its ending.