Rebuilding Review (2026 Manchester Film Festival)

Josh O’ Connor can always be found at the scene of the crime, when that crime is a devastatingly beautiful movie. Rebuilding, Max Walker-Silverman’s sophomore feature, is a film asking what can rise from the ashes of loss. 

Dusty (O’ Connor) is a stoic Colorado cowboy living in the aftermath of a devastating wildfire that has cost him not only the ranch and land which has been in his family for generations, but his entire identity as a man who works the land. As the climate changes, we grow more used to seeing images of natural devastation on the news: raging wildfires in California, extreme flooding in South Asia, tropical cyclones around the Caribbean and Central America, to name just a few of the many ecological events causing major agricultural damage and displacing millions of people. What we don’t see on the news is the aftermath. What happens to these people after they’ve lost everything?

Walker-Silverman focuses his story on a typical American everyman, a person just trying to work, get by and look after his family. For Dusty, the weight of grief and responsibility has forced him into himself and away from his family. He’s quiet, a sort of lost soul, stuck in limbo, wondering what move to make next. With his home and livelihood lost, his only anchor to home are his overworked ex-wife (Meghann Fahy, Drop), his quietly adoring daughter Callie Rose (Lily TaTorre), who we get the sense Dusty has grown fairly distant from, and his ex mother-in-law (Oscar Winner Amy Madigan), who, far removed from her role as Aunt Gladys in Weapons, seems to be the only person who can see the emotions Dusty can’t seem to hide as well as he’d like to. With nothing else left to do, Dusty turns his hand to fatherhood. 

Over the course of the movie, we see Dusty grapple with acceptance. The film focuses on the softer moments of his life: his interactions with his daughter, who is happy to seize any form of quality time with her father, even if it means hanging out in the back of his dirty pick-up truck in the library car park, cadging WiFi so she can finish her homework. The more time Dusty spends with his daughter, the more questions she asks about their family and the fire that stole their home. In these moments, Dusty is pulled in two separate directions, forced to reconcile with who he is. Is a constrained cowboy all he can be? Or could he be Thomas (his birth name), somebody who can show up and make things work to stay with his family?

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The film uses dialogue sparingly, filling in the quiet gaps with spellbinding visuals of the American countryside. Rebuilding is a film you take in gently. Walker-Siverman immerses his audience within the rich world these characters inhabit with open landscapes and stunning portraits of the sky. His actors do well with the little they have in the way of a script, emoting through gesture, body language and the things that go unsaid. Josh O’ Connor plays his repressed cowboy remarkably, and his work here pushes a little further than his role as the sexually repressed Johnny in Frances Lee’s God’s Own Country. Josh O’Connor is a compelling actor because he excels in introspective roles, conveying complex emotion through subtle expressions and restrained performances.

His ability to inhabit characters with sensitivity and nuance allows even the smallest moments to feel deeply authentic. In many ways, Dusty is the antithesis of the loud, brash cowboy performances we associate with cinema— he’s reserved, with his hands in his pockets and his eyes facing the floor. He glosses over his feelings with casual conversation, constantly taking the onus off his situation, ashamed to accept help. Through subtle micro expressions, we see O’ Connor internally wrestle with Dusty’s inner conflicts, and the result is a deeply moving portrayal of manhood.

Authenticity is the film’s greatest strength, especially in its depiction of the community of displaced people attempting to get their lives back on track. Like Chloe Zhao’s depiction of the nomadic road community in Nomadland, where naturalistic cinematography and realistic performances create a deeply immersive and respectful portrayal of modern American nomad life, Rebuilding creates a similar sense of honesty. In Dusty’s interactions with his new neighbours at the government-funded trailer park for displaced families, we see kindness break through his walls and remind him that a home can be much more than a house.

Walker-Silverman’s use of naturalistic cinema is compelling because it invites viewers into a world that feels unfiltered and lived-in, where pure moments carry emotional weight. However, there are moments when the film feels like it doesn’t have enough meat on its bones. As we approach the film’s conclusion, after being introduced to tough themes like government funding cuts and the effects that might have on the displaced communities’ lives, things begin to feel a little too neat. Although its heart is in the right place, the film somewhat fumbles the landing, tidily resolving its conflicts so its central message starts to feel somewhat diluted. 

★★★

Screened at the 2026 Manchester Film Festival. Releasing April 17th 2026 /Josh O’ Connor, Amy Meghann Fahy, Lily LaTorre, Amy Madigan, Kali Reis, Jefferson Mays/  Dir: Max Walker-Silverman / Picturehouse Entertainment / PG