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Sometimes small movies are just that. Not artsy. Not gritty. Not cutting-edge. Not chancy. Not distinctive. Not great. Not terrible. Just small. The Crude Oasis is small by design. Small in scope, small in budget, small in emotional impact. Writer-director-producer Alex Graves apparently figured he'd avert risk by keeping everything...
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Sometimes small movies are just that. Not artsy. Not gritty. Not cutting-edge. Not chancy. Not distinctive. Not great. Not terrible. Just small.

The Crude Oasis is small by design. Small in scope, small in budget, small in emotional impact. Writer-director-producer Alex Graves apparently figured he’d avert risk by keeping everything low-profile for his feature filmmaking debut. Unfortunately, the resulting movie feels so muted you wonder why he chose to make it at all.

Several meanings shade the title. First, the Crude Oasis is the name of a fictitious dive bar where much of the movie takes place. Second, it’s a play on the word crude, as in oil. The movie is set in Kansas — oil-drilling country — and most of the characters work in some capacity in the petroleum industry. Oil pumps, drilling rigs, and refineries dot the landscape. Third, the misunderstood hero of the film is sort of a blue-collar mystic. He’s cruder (i.e., less refined) than his romantic competition, but proves to be an oasis of love and passion for a woman who feels trapped in a sexless marriage and a sterile, humdrum existence. Finally, “crude” describes this low-budget production’s sound and camerawork.

The film ends with one character asking another, “Where are you headed?” The response: “I don’t know.” That exchange sums up the first two-thirds of this movie, which starts out looking like a murder mystery among the Wal-Mart set, but ends up a romantic triangle that takes forever to establish its three points.

Point — of the triangle is Karen (Jennifer Taylor), the above-mentioned bored-but-dutiful housewife. Her husband’s good job at the oil company provides her financial security but little else. Karen wants kids — they’ll give her something to do, as she has no life — but her spouse says no. Emotionally numb and chronically undersexed, Karen puts three dollars’ worth of petrol into the tank of her gas-guzzling car every day (rather than filling it up) just so that she can experience a little human contact. Triangle Point B — Jim (Robert Peterson), Karen’s fussy, condescending hubby — frequently disappears in the middle of the night, ostensibly to work late at the office. His timing is bad, though; Karen keeps noticing his absence when she wakes up from bad dreams (which feature a brooding guy who resembles Harley, the mysterious gas station attendant in whom Karen’s begun to develop a strong interest). Meanwhile, radio announcements inform us that a search has begun for the body of a local woman, a housewife, who recently disappeared. Police suspect foul play.

Is there a relationship between Karen’s nightmares and the woman’s disappearance? Is Harley the murderer? Is Karen next?

Karen finally confronts Jim, who admits he’s having an affair and makes it clear he has no intention of breaking off the relationship. Instead of leaving, Karen pads along on autopilot until her despondence leads to a botched suicide attempt. Enter triangle Point C, Harley (Aaron Shields) the soulful pump boy (no symbolism there). Karen fixates upon him both because she’s physically attracted to him and because she suspects him of murder. (Ooo, he’s so dangerous!)

Who is Jim diddling? Why does Karen stay with him? What’s Harley’s secret? And, most important, does everybody in Middle America dress this badly? Writer-director Graves answers all those questions, but takes forever to do so. Along the way, he neglects to give us reasons to care about any of the three principals, which means his film registers faint emotional impact. For all the drilling and pumping going on in The Crude Oasis, the movie is a dry hole.

Related

The Crude Oasis.
Written and directed by Alex Graves; with Jennifer Taylor, Aaron Shields, and Robert Peterson.

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