Writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer David Fenster's Trona so neatly captures the modern man's alienation from his surroundings during the opening scenes of his debut Trona that you'll be hooked for the rest of the film's lean run time. An off-kilter blend of Buster Keaton-esque humor and David Lynch-ian metaphysics, Trona explores the ramifications of walking away from your life to find out who you are and what you really want.

Not long after boarding a plane to return home from a business trip, the unnamed, mustachioed Man (David Nordstrom) inexplicably finds himself in the desert, stripped to his underwear and walking aimlessly through the searing heat. Left with only his shoes and his wallet, The Man wanders into the glittering, sleepy industrial burg of Trona. After acquiring the bare minimum needed to survive, The Man sets about overseeing a devastated landscape of forgotten cars, a slowly rusting junkyard on the edge of town and settling into a spartan existence.

Trona places characters in almost overwhelming physical space, while relying on the faintest of narratives -- Fenster's film doesn't build to any sort of revelatory climax, but rather illustrates the simple point that people can be alone anywhere, be it the vast expanse of the desert or the claustrophobic interior of the urban jungle. Trona is a quiet, meditative piece that doesn't beat you over the head with its intentions, but rather, subtly slips under your skin, peeling back the layers of 21st century life to reveal the simple needs that lie underneath it all.

The Video:

Trona is presented in perfectly adequate 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen, a transfer that looks a bit grainy (mostly in the darker scenes) and bleached-out, however, it fits the aesthetic of the film -- the starkly composed shots are always razor-sharp and clear, free from any flecks or other noticeable print damage.

With relatively little dialogue, an atmospheric score provided by Tatsuhiko Asano and a reliance on natural sound, the provided Dolby 2.0 stereo soundtrack gets the job done, conveying words, music and ambient noise with no distortion or drop-out. It's a crisp, vivid sonic experience.

Appropriately spare, the supplements don't give away much: a two minute, 20 second "pre-visualization video" is included, as is four minutes of extended footage of the band Fireworks, who are featured in the film, with a two minute, 30 second theatrical trailer for Trona rounding out the disc.

Trona is a quiet, meditative piece that doesn't beat you over the head with its intentions, but rather, subtly slips under your skin, peeling back the layers of 21st century life to reveal the simple needs that lie underneath it all. Recommended.