‘Rebuild’ review: Josh O’Connor plays a cowboy whose ranch burns down

Life has a way of taking things from us that we think we can’t do without. Often it means the death of someone dear to us, but sometimes it can be home – and with it, settling into the world. When we meet Dusty, the laconic protagonist of “Reconstruction,” he has already lost a lot. His marriage is over. His parents are long dead and buried. But as this humble drama begins, Dusty faces the hardest blows: his 200-acre family ranch in Colorado has been burned down in a devastating wildfire. He survived but he might as well be a ghost.

Dusty is played by Josh O’Connor, who has recently cornered the market on sensitive, negative strangers. With his wiry body and shy eyes, the British actor has demonstrated in films like “La Chimera” and “The Mastermind” his appetite for soft-spoken characters who exude gentle masculinity. We don’t know if Dusty’s voice has been noticeably muted by his recent tragedy, but as he tries to pick up the pieces, this lonely cowboy drifts through his days, doing his best to pretend he’s holding on well.

Writer-director Max Walker Silverman’s second film shares with his first a sympathy for strong, silent characters. His 2022 debut, “A Love Song,” was steeped in melancholy, casting Dale Dickey and Wes Studi as elderly childhood friends who reunite, making for a languidly tentative romance. Likewise, “Reconstruction” is a story of sadness and questioning populated by ordinary people who speak in terse tones. The film radiates the rough, light poetry of a short story or a John Prine song. (It’s fitting that the musician appears on the soundtrack.)

O’Connor keeps Dusty’s inner life a mystery when he reluctantly moves into a rickety trailer at a makeshift FEMA camp, struggling to make it hospitable to his daughter Callie Rose (Lily Latour), who lives primarily with Dusty’s ex-wife Ruby (Megan Fahey) and Ruby’s boyfriend Ruby (Sam Engebring). Dusty isn’t a bad father or a mean ex-husband; everyone around him loves him, including Ruby’s ailing mother Bess (Amy Madigan). But when Callie Rose told Dusty that Robbie said he didn’t do well in school, we believed her. “Rebuild” doesn’t reveal much about Dusty before the farm was burned down, but what eventually becomes clear is that he’s always been a disappointment.

It’s a performance that requires O’Connor to hint at an indescribable void. The character operates far from even the people closest to him – he’s a kind soul, but he can’t quite connect. Dusty and Robbie were teenage sweethearts, but the audience doesn’t need to know the entire backstory to guess why they broke up. He is the kind of man who is burdened with inner inertia, who sleeps while standing, stuck in a rut. At least he had his farm. But after the massive fire, Dusty’s cowboy hat is all that’s left of the only life he’s ever known.

In keeping with Walker-Silverman’s naturalistic approach, “Rebuilding” eschews a traditional plot, instead observing Dusty’s negotiation of an outside world he’s trying to avoid. He gingerly makes friends at the FEMA camp, most memorably with Mila, portrayed with tough authenticity by Callie Reese. This actual support group has no big inspirational speeches to give Dusty, just exhausting resilience to keep going, because really, what else can they do? Some of the film’s best moments involve O’Connor ceding the spotlight to his co-stars, where one might assume Walker-Silverman has gathered real bushfire survivors.

The film’s realism may alarm some Los Angeles viewers who know all too well the pain of recovering from a natural disaster. When “Rebuild” premiered at Sundance in January, festivalgoers in Southern California couldn’t help but feel sick: The Eaton and Palisades fires were still burning, devastating communities and displacing many. Such horror and sadness loomed over those initial screenings, and for many in our city, 10 months will no doubt be enough time to enter the space to appreciate Dusty’s processing of his confusing new normal.

But although Walker Silverman wouldn’t have imagined his film’s stark parallels to the real world, “Rebuilding” is as much a character study as it is a warning about our increasingly fragile planet and the beloved places we call home. The story’s thoughtful secondary tone may at times seem mannered, but “Rebuilding” has its own delicate beauty, especially when Dusty endures other losses — some personal, others more existential. Walker-Silverman offers a small twist near the end that feels somewhat narratively convenient, but one can’t begrudge him as he searches for a glimmer of hope for those whose sense of place has been obliterated. As Dusty learns, when you lose almost everything, all you have is what’s left behind.