Don't Come Back from the Moon

Constantly moving cameras. hopefully they made enough cash from this film to buy a tripod or a dolly. if you get seasick easily, don't watch this one. Smalley (James Franco) walks out on his family in a small, dying desert town after "the plant" closes down and there's no work. and he's not the only one. more dads are giving up and leaving town. so the kids turn into juvenile delinquents. lots of pretty sunsets. and pictures of the sun and moon. should have been more story and less pictures of the moon. it's a story about leaving. do people who leave ever come back? directed by Bruce Cheung, who seems to have worked with Franco on SO many projects. novel by Dean Bakopoulos. looks like it was filmed around the edges of the salton sea. abandoned houses. ruins. mud. dead fish. it's pretty dark. it's okay.

Take a bleak, slow movie. Set it in a broken down, rural, desert town so the scenery isn't interesting to look at. Add a lead character has questionable morals who just isn't interesting or sympathetic. Then add a title and description that hint this will be some kind of sci-fi mystery. Altogether I cam confused how someone thought this was a winning formula for a film. I suppose someone felt it has a powerful social message. But the only message was that it's bad if a parent wanders off and doesn't return. And even that message wasn't clear. I try to see the good in every film, but I couldn't find anything in this film that would convince me to watch it a second time.

This is a dull movie, but is honest about it. Follows the life of some youngsters abandoned by their father. They live in the American desert towns where there is little to do and little life except that which you can make.

It's low budget and shakey cam, but the real crux is some fine acting by the mostly young crew. Beyond that there's nothing there. So much more can have been said and done. There is hope in everyone and you can take if that happens or not.

It's a snapshot on certain lives. I just think there was more and better to say.

The title sounds like a sci-fi movie. The poster for the film looks like a sci-fi movie. The early part of the film sorta seems like a sci-fi movie. However, this is not a sci-fi movie. It is a movie whose premise makes absolutely no sense. If you can get past the early nonsensical setup of numerous fathers all just simply walking out on their wives and/or children in the same teeny town around the same time you might find yourself involved with the plight of those abandoned, particularly the children. They all learn to live their new lives and eventually the fathers return, though there is no indication as to how long they have been gone, only to find themselves shunned because of what they did. They all have reasons, but why they all just simply walked away around the same time is never explained. Perhaps it is just bad filmmaking that presents its setup incorrectly?! Beyond the structure being a mess, there are some touching scenes among these abandoned young people with the focal point well played by Jeff Wahlberg. Rashida Jones does pretty well too as a lonely wife. It has a gritty realistic look to it, but it is a film that is pretty much ruined by either poor writing, poor direction or poor editing or perhaps all three.

If you want to watch life in a small nowhere town go nowhere as a few fathers lose interest & move out leaving wives & kids to not do much but mope around then this should entertain you. No subtitles so you know dialogue is not important. Why isn't it the mom's who run off?