The Buildout

I don't understand where this movie was going. It's a nice chemistry between the two stars but there's no deep explanation for their relationship or what the religious aspect is all about. I watched it twice to see if I missed anything. Nope. It's not a bad movie and it's not a good movie. It's kind of not really a movie at all. It just.... Is. Judge for yourself and then please fill me in. I did like that they did not go the "found footage" route even though they could have with this style of filming. The acting is pretty good but I mean aside that ... I got nothing from it. It's as confusing as it is direction-less.

I'm gonna be honest here, loved the scenery, loved the riding scenes, and the tiny little bit of background that was in here. But I'm still not sure what the point of this movie was?

I get it, this is an indie film, they don't have the big budget and resources to make something crazy. But what they do have is actors, and a story. Unfortunately, the writers seemed to decide that this movie didn't need a story?

We get little snippets of a story, a hint of past events, drama, and regrets. But nothing more. There is no meat and potatoes here. It just ends without anything happening.... Yeah I don't know, that's kind of the problem here. I'm not sure what this is supposed to be because it never really goes anywhere?

Is this supposed to be a horror movie? Because if that's the case there is a build-up to a horror movie, and then there's no real horror. If this movie is supposed to be a movie about character development and relationships, then we don't get much of that either.

The movie just ends. I was waiting to see if there was more, hoped there was more. But as it is, there is no climax, no conclusion, no natural ending to this movie. It feels like they ran out of funding halfway through and just quit filming.

One woman escorts another to a religious cult settlement mid-desert. The setting could have been brilliant for a horror but unlike some of the critics I didn't see beauty or skill in the cinematography. The performances were decent, and probably the most skilled thing about the movie, as the plot and especially the ending are very loose and rely heavily on the audience's imagination. The dialogue, which should hold a film like this up, was poor, and the characters were archetypes, there to serve a purpose, as such their attributes were bland and predictable. I had personal issues with the god-speeches early in the film which made me absolutely loathe one of the characters from the outset, and that destroyed my hope of enjoyment. As an amateur indie, it is worth more than the 3.8/10 it is currently sitting on, but I'd recommend the filmmakers exercise more patience next time, and put some proper effort into the script and conclusion.

Honestly, this movie was a 10/10 to me. Not only the performance of Hannah and Jenna was amazing, also the recording quality and the place they chose to film the movie are PERFECT. This desert located in California legit looks like being in a different world, absolutely fits with the argument. I absolutely recommend watching this movie because, once you finish it, you make yourself a lot of question about what you just witnessed and it's fun making your own theories about the fate of the protagonists. I really liked the script, It really makes you feel like Cameron & Dylan have been friends since the day they were born. This actually deserves more views, highly recommend it.

Congratulations to Zeshaan and to all the casting <3.