Laine is on the run from the law.
turning up at the Frontier, an isolated desert diner and motel, she is offered a job by Luanne, the owner, and, hoping to lose herself in the obscurity of the place, accepts the job.
But soon Laine realises she has stumbled into an even bigger and more dangerous situation, with the most eclectic and bizarre of clientele........
The frontier is a really odd film that cannot decide what genre it belongs in. Is it a Western? It sure has the setting and the elements to place it in that genre, but the surrounding narrative almost turns the film into some sort of hazy fantasy where nothing is what is seems.
This turns the film into something a little Lynchian, as when we are in the titular eatery with our bizarre group, it almost feels like its riffing on Twin Peaks, but not as bonkers or as clued up as that masterpiece.
All the characters have these strange traits that are nothing more than maundering when it comes to the third act.
The film questions if Laine is in some sort of purgatory, because it feels like she cannot leave the place, much like everyone else, but it isn't properly explained, and this is where it starts to feel like Identity, an equally unnecessarily baffling film about people stuck in a place, which also has a disappointing ending.
It's never really clear what time the film is set. I thought at first it was in the present, but halfway through the film, a character spins a yarn about Hollywood, placing it firmly in the forties, but this is never confirmed, again suggesting the film has some sort of afterlife feel to it.
The conclusion is as disappointing and baffling as the previous ninety minutes, and despite the good intentions of the cast, whom all put in decent performances, it just adds up to nothing and ends with a 'what was that all about then' rather than a nicely wrapped up conclusion.
turning up at the Frontier, an isolated desert diner and motel, she is offered a job by Luanne, the owner, and, hoping to lose herself in the obscurity of the place, accepts the job.
But soon Laine realises she has stumbled into an even bigger and more dangerous situation, with the most eclectic and bizarre of clientele........
The frontier is a really odd film that cannot decide what genre it belongs in. Is it a Western? It sure has the setting and the elements to place it in that genre, but the surrounding narrative almost turns the film into some sort of hazy fantasy where nothing is what is seems.
This turns the film into something a little Lynchian, as when we are in the titular eatery with our bizarre group, it almost feels like its riffing on Twin Peaks, but not as bonkers or as clued up as that masterpiece.
All the characters have these strange traits that are nothing more than maundering when it comes to the third act.
The film questions if Laine is in some sort of purgatory, because it feels like she cannot leave the place, much like everyone else, but it isn't properly explained, and this is where it starts to feel like Identity, an equally unnecessarily baffling film about people stuck in a place, which also has a disappointing ending.
It's never really clear what time the film is set. I thought at first it was in the present, but halfway through the film, a character spins a yarn about Hollywood, placing it firmly in the forties, but this is never confirmed, again suggesting the film has some sort of afterlife feel to it.
The conclusion is as disappointing and baffling as the previous ninety minutes, and despite the good intentions of the cast, whom all put in decent performances, it just adds up to nothing and ends with a 'what was that all about then' rather than a nicely wrapped up conclusion.