Do You Want to Die in Indio? [Big America] *** (2024, Joshua De Jesus, Robert Kazinsky, Cody Longo, Willow Geer, Martin Martinez) – Classic Movie Review 13,220

Do You Want to Die in Indio? [Big America] (2024, Joshua De Jesus).

The 2024 dark comedy thriller film Do You Want to Die in Indio? [Big America] stars Joshua De Jesus as 17-year-old Salvi who is swept up in an incendiary weekend of drugs, guns and sexual ambiguity.

Writer/ director David Moreton’s 2024 dark comedy thriller film Do You Want to Die in Indio? [Big America] stars Joshua De Jesus, Robert Kazinsky, Cody Longo, Willow Geer and Martin Martinez.

When his dreams of taking up a scholarship to USC are derailed, 17-year-old Salvi (Joshua De Jesus) hits the mean streets of Palm Springs (California) to get some money selling drugs. Soon, he is swept up in an incendiary weekend of partying, gun violence and sexual ambiguity with enterprising drug dealer Lucky (Cody Longo), ethically challenged mentor Henry (Robert Kazinsky), and budding romance Gabriel (Martin Martinez).

Talk about life – and movie plots – getting complicated! Well, never a dull moment in 101 minutes here, that’s for sure.

Joshua De Jesus.

Do You Want to Die in Indio? heads off on the road beyond odd and weird, to bizarre. Its story is a movie contrivance, without too much credibility, but the film is strangely likeable and entertaining anyway, often funny, sometimes a bit scary. It’s pretty much short of sympathetic characters, so a lot depends on the likeability factor and acting talent of Joshua De Jesus, and he keeps it at least interesting, even borderline fascinating. Cody Longo and Robert Kazinsky are wildly entertaining once you get used to the shock of their crazy acts.

It goes into overdrive to try to keep the audience amused, piling on more and more crazy, disturbing incident, when if it calmed down a little it might have been better, but it’s fun anyway.

Its satirical tone is sophisticatedly ambiguous. There are a lot of mixed messages.

I’m not sure that either the gun stuff, or the drugs stuff, or the gay stuff is exactly cool, and there are times when the film itself seems ethically challenged. But the film has probably got its heart in the right place, if it had one. If it does, it doesn’t want to show it, except for the final image, just when something really dark would have topped off its bizarre course nicely. Though, I get it, after living through such an incendiary weekend, we deserved a happy ending.

Release date: October 4, 2024 (internet).

It won four awards at the Indie Fest USA International Film Festival: Feature Film, Best Director, Actor: Leading (Joshua De Jesus) and Supporting Actor (Robert Kazinsky).

David Moreton is the director of Edge of Seventeen, Testosterone and A Good Funeral.

Cody Longo.

Cody Longo (1987-2023)

American actor and musician Cody Longo was found dead at his home in Austin, Texas, on 8 February 2023, aged 34, of suspected alcohol poisoning.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,220

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