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VARIETY REVIEW BY ROBERT KOEHLER

Defiantly minimalist, David Fenster's "Trona" marks a striking feature debut by a filmmaker with a taste for moribund humor and the ironies of the American Dream. Tracking the so-called Man With the Mustache (played with Keatonesque deadpan by David Nordstrom) from an innocuous business trip to a bizarre detour into a totally new life in the California desert, Fenster's film intrigues with its use of big physical space and bigger narrative gaps. It's already earned a reprep at high-end fests like Vienna and Buenos Aires, though commercial prospects appear slight.

The noisy moaning and grinding from a neighboring motel room distracts the Man in an amusing opening scene, and he finds his interest comically interrupted by a call from his (off-screen) wife about his drinking habit. With few words expressed, and actions speaking louder, a portrait emerges of a youngish salesman in a personal and professional rut, wanting a way out.

From being a plane passenger, he's suddenly on the ground in what looks like one of Western helmer Budd Boetticher's favorite east-of-Sierras desert locales, with suitcase in hand and looking absurdly out of place. Pic blends a canny sense of Keaton with Antonioni, as the guy soon is parted from his suit and briefcase, left to wander around in his underwear until he sees the curious (and never ID'd) burg of Trona.

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