An American veteran sees his life take a turn for the better after meeting an environmentalist, something that is sadly short-lived and leads him to a dark path.
Written by Robert LaSardo and Adrian Milnes and directed by LaSardo, the film takes the story of a man who finds love and hope then loses it which pushes him into a dark place and brings it to the screen decently well. The writing is good, the direction is good as well, but there is something missing here which may be in either the writing or the direction, it’s hard to tell. The film as a whole is decent but it is likely to be a more limited audience film due to content and how it uses Charles Manson audio throughout. The idea behind this is unclear as to why, but the point is made that Manson may have been a more than what most people think of him and that this applies to the lead character as well. There is a lot in this film theme-wise and some of them get a bit lost in the sheer number of them. The film has a lot to say, but some of it definitely gets lost. The themes here include environmental protection, violence as a means to an end, PTSD, war and its damages on veterans, love, family, loss, etc.
The acting here is what most folks will be paying attention and like the writing and direction, it’s good. There is room for improvement, especially in the supporting cast so they will not be delved into much more than this. In the lead, Robert LaSardo does decently well but it does show that perhaps directing and acting in the scenes may have been a bit too much. He’s not bad here, he’s good even, but he has been much better from him in the past and it’s easy to see that a lot of effort went into this performance, however it doesn’t always hit right. There’s an emotional wall here still, perhaps it is meant to be there due the character’s PTSD from serving but having him let that wall down a bit more when in the love phase of the story would have helped connect the viewer to the character and give his loss more depth in the story and in the performance. Needing a mention here is Gigi Gustin who comes in and gives the film a breath of fresh air even with a character that feels a bit thin. She’s there to be a catalyst for the last segment of the story and her character feels like it’s missing something but she’s giving her character her all to make her all that she could be.
When it comes to the look of the film, there is a bit of unevenness which is felt between the start and the middle section mostly, showing differences in filming styles between outdoor scenes and indoor scenes that are more than just location based. A quick look at the credits (or IMDb) shows that three different people did the cinematography and that may be the reason for the issue above. Too many cinematographers can often lead to an uneven look in the finished film. None of these folks did bad work here, but there is a difference and it’s visible, so it becomes a bit of an annoyance to anyone paying attention to these things.
American Trash is a film with a lot to say that could use a bit more focus on one issue or a few instead of having so much going on theme-wise. It’s decently written, directed, and acted from the lead cast. The film shows that LaSardo is on his way to becoming is a solid film writer and director after having been in over 175 films as an actor.