''The Dry Land'' (also known as ''American Tragic'') is a 2010 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Ryan Piers Williams. The film stars Ryan O’Nan, America Ferrara,

Wilmer Valderrama Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama ( ; born January 30, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Fez in the sitcom '' That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), his current role as Special Agent Nick Torres in '' NCIS'' (2016–present), and Agu ...

Jason Ritter Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor. The son of actors John Ritter and Nancy Morgan, he is known for his work in television series such as ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005), ''Gravity Falls'' (2012–2016), '' Anot ...

, and

Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Critics' Choice A ...

. It premiered at the

2010 Sundance Film Festival The 26th annual Sundance Film Festival was held from January 21, 2010, until January 31, 2010, in Park City, Utah, Park City, Utah. Awards *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - ''Restrepo (film), Restrepo'' *Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - ''Winter's Bone ...

and opened in limited release on July 30, 2010.

Plot

James returns from

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

to face a new battle readjusting to small-town life in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. His wife, his mother, and his friend provide support, but they cannot fully understand the pain and suffering he feels since his tour of duty ended. Lonely, James reconnects with an army buddy, Raymond, who provides him with compassion and friendship during his battle to process his experiences in Iraq. But their reunion also exposes the different ways that war affects people, at least on the surface.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

l, 64% of 25 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.52/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 47 based on 10 reviews signifying "mixed or average reviews". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the film a "B" grade and praised Ryan O'Nan's "quietly riveting performance as an Iraq-war veteran who comes undone after he returns home to dusty Texas (the filmmaker's home turf)". The film received Imagen Awards nominations for best feature film and for America Ferrera as best actress.

References

External links

Official website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dry Land 2010 films 2010 drama films 2010 independent films American drama films Films about post-traumatic stress disorder Films about veterans Films set in Texas 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films