'Rebuilding' Review
- Josh Davis
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Release Date: 01/13/26 [VOD]
Genre: Drama.
MPAA: Rated PG.
Distributor: Bleecker Street.
The Verdict: A Must-See
Rebuilding is a quietly affecting film about grief and moving on – a 90-minute distant cousin of Nomadland, set on the plains of Colorado and anchored by Josh O’Connor as Dusty, a cowboy whose ranch has been lost to a wildfire.
Dusty ends up in a FEMA camp alongside a dozen others who’ve also been displaced. They live in a makeshift trailer park that could not be any – well – dustier.
At first, Dusty keeps to himself. Eventually, he drifts outward, joining the ragtag group for nightly sessions of shared grief: sitting around a small fire, cooking meager meals, singing in ragged voices, and doing what they can to cope with what’s been taken from them. For some, that loss was a home. For others, it was the people who made anywhere feel like one.
As he slowly begins picking up the pieces of his life, Dusty also reconnects with his young daughter, Callie-Rose, played by Lily LaTorre in a dazzlingly natural performance that feels remarkably soulful for someone so young and so small.
Meghann Fahy co-stars as Ruby, Callie-Rose’s mother – a steady presence and quiet guide who helps Dusty along with a light touch and just enough pressure to keep him honest.
A lesser film might have shoved Dusty and Ruby back into a trauma-bonded romance, rekindling something that flickered and died, freshly ignited by loss – fire destroying, fire giving life again.
Another version also might have turned Dusty into a heroic figure, rebuilding his ranch board by board: a phoenix rising from the ashes, cue the swelling, dramatic music.
Rebuilding avoids all of that. It isn’t cheap, and it never wanders down emotional dirt roads that feel manufactured. Much of that credit belongs to writer-director Max Walker-Silverman’s lean, thoughtful script, which resists big speeches and cinematic flourishes that look impressive, but ring hollow. The writing here is quieter – lived-in, creaky, and sad, without collapsing under its own weight. It’s a film about quiet strength and the ways people manage to stay upright, even when the ground beneath them has burned away.
The film also works because O’Connor delivers a masterclass in nuance. Dusty is a simple, hardworking man who knows how to wake up early, do the job, and keep the lights on – but he’s never been especially good with people. He doesn’t undergo a dramatic transformation here. Instead, he evolves just enough, learning how to be a better father and a better neighbor to others carrying the same loss.
The rest of the cast follows that same understated rhythm. Every character feels fully drawn yet lived-in, carrying the kind of quiet grace that sometimes emerges only when it has to.
Nothing about Rebuilding is flashy – but nothing feels cheap either. At a tight 90 minutes, it gets in, gets out, tells a grounded story, and gives a strong cast room to breathe inside good writing.
Add in the gorgeously shot Colorado landscape – barren, emptied, and constantly glowing with the strange beauty of a perfect sunset – and you’re left with something rarified: a small film that knows exactly what it is, but never reaches for more than it needs to.
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