THE DESERT (2021)

It can be hard to discern when something is directly reflective of certain eras or when it is timeless. Michael Dockery’s 2021 animated short, THE DESERT, feels in line with the aesthetics and compositions of the ‘70s and ‘80s by the likes of Ralph McQuarrie and Moebius (Jean Giraud); those solemn post-human/post-apocalyptic landscapes that use a lot of earth tones alongside bright yellows and purples to create something hauntingly familiar but also quietly alien. The visuals also conjure up Kilian Eng and other, later artists that used a mixture of those previous illustrators alongside ideas found in cyberpunk, cassette futurism, and Heavy Metal magazine. But THE DESERT never feels derivative of these named sources—simply that they are reminiscent and so fully realized that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to mistake them to have sprung from the same moment in time as the other works.

That curious European mix of melancholy and apotheosis hangs all over this short five minute film. Dockery and company have made a gorgeous film that isn’t heavy handed in its narrative or themes, but also isn’t too oblique in the spirit or story it is trying to tell, either. THE DESERT is a great work and hopefully the first of much more from this group of filmmakers. You can follow Dockery on Twitter or learn more about him on his website.