In “Rebuilding,” Josh O’Connor imbues Dusty — a cowboy upended by a wildfire that razed his ranch — with a profound sense of ache. Losing not only a home but also a vocation that’s inextricable from one’s identity will do that to a person.
Dusty has just moved into in a stark outpost of FEMA trailers and is considering relocating from Colorado to Montana where a cousin has cattle. But as go-it-alone as Dusty thinks himself, he is not alone in this quiet gem of a drama from Max Walker-Silverman that unfolds beneath the vast sky of southern Colorado.
So, when Ruby (Meghann Fahy) foists their young daughter, Callie-Rose (the wonderfully expressive Lily LaTorre), on him for the day, she’s doing more than reminding Dusty he’s answerable to others, she’s throwing him a wee lifeline.
“Rebuilding” revolves around the sometimes prickly, but budding, interactions between father and daughter. It’s also shaped by interactions between Dusty and his climate-displaced neighbors, among them Mila (Kali Reis), who was widowed by the fast-moving conflagration.
As fine as O’Connor is at delivering a hangdog performance, the film’s ensemble adds their own melancholy, fortitude and resilience to the goings-on. Ruby is as rooted to the land as Dusty but emotionally sturdier. Amy Madigan portrays Dusty’s former mother-in-law, whose illness hasn’t dulled her compassion. Mila is surely devastated and yet …
One could surmise that it takes a village of women to save a stubbornly reticent man. But the lesson of “Rebuilding” is gentler, broader and timelier: Accepting help is a necessary step toward offering it to others in lasting ways.
Rebuilding
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. In theaters.
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