Michael Neumann A young girl comes of age as the world itself enters a new era in this introspective period piece, set in suburban Las Vegas on the eve of the first atomic bomb tests. The film is a family crisis melodrama, seen from the sharp-eyed perspective of a shy teenager just receiving her first pair of glasses (Annabeth Gish, in an admirable debut performance). As the rifts in her family are brought into sudden focus she gains a traumatic understanding of the forces that shape adulthood. It's a curiously lopsided drama, with moments of unaffected sensitivity alongside scenes of outright hysteria, but altogether the film presents a splendid, nostalgic evocation of the awkward passage of adolescence.

MartianOctocretr5 Intensely emotional, so much so, that it's hard to watch in places. Jon Voight's performance of a WWII veteran tortured and twisted mentally by his war experiences is intimidating, even volatile.The story is set in the '50's, at a time when the U.S. is testing nuclear weapons at a base north of Las Vegas. Jack Chismore (Voight), the veteran, and his family live in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas. There are parallel stories, weaving the news of the nuclear technology around the conflicts of Chismore's mental cruelty and abusive behavior to his family; in particular, his coming-of-age daughter Rose (Annabeth Gish). Gish is sensational in this role; she holds her own in verbal sparring with the always skillful Jon Voight. You really feel her frustration, and love to hate Chismore. The latter, though, slowly becomes more sympathetic as you understand his suffering more.Coming-of-age stories have a few standard plot lines, but they're handled tenderly and resist exploitation here. Rose has a boy friend, and she's learning the facts of not only her own personal life, but the ugly and frightening facts of the world simultaneously.The final image is riveting; in a single shot, the twin points of loss of innocence--Rose's, as well the world's--are melded together brilliantly with a single camera shot. A fine movie with a powerful theme.

WendyOh! Very underrated 1950's story, basically about a messed up family. But boy oh boy are they messed up. Featuring outstanding performances by Ellen Barkin and Jon Voight, and nearly stolen by newcomer Annabeth Gish, this is a haunting provocative story of a family in crisis, just as the nation was in crisis. Beautifully done.

shrine-2 The mushroom cloud at the end of "Desert Bloom" carries a hypnotic power like nothing else in this movie. It takes you by surprise, because not much of what goes before it holds you. The strange beauty of that atomic bomb going off is caught in the eye of Rose, a teenager struggling to make sense out of her relationship with her abusive stepfather. She cannot figure where she stands with him. One moment he's affectionate and protective, the next moment he's threatening and abusive. It makes her sullen and morose, and if it were not for her fun-loving Aunt Starr (Ellen Barkin), she would probably have run away back to the arms of her loving grandmother. Instead she learns how to cope with his inconsistencies and violence; and when Annabelle Gish looks out onto the lit horizon, you see a look of fearlessness in her eyes, as if to tell us that Rose has finally learned how to conquer her fears, and has learned how to blossom even in the most trying desert heat. Gish's performance is unpretentious; and her smile lights up the screen. But it's too little to keep us fully interested in the story, and most of the talented cast (Jon Voight, Jo Beth Williams) strains to do something with it. Allan Garfield is the only one who makes a mark; he's slimmer and more generous than he has been in the past. Playing a concerned neighbor, Garfield makes you wonder if a pod had fallen from the sky and reinvented him.