Plot

Four lifelong friends decide to veer off the road and venture into a small rural town after meeting a mysterious stranger. The line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred as they encounter the strange lights of Marfa, Texas.

While on a road trip from a long weekend at the Terlingua cookoff, four lifelong friends decide to veer off road and venture into a small West Texas town known as Marfa. What attracted them to do so? Could it be the strange unexplained ghost lights that Marfa is known for? While on a fuel stop they meet two very strange employees of a secluded gas station. One of them offers them a chance to look into their future by pulling a ticket from his counter top 25 cent token fortune telling machine. What does it say? Can they trust it? When they enter Marfa, Texas they realize almost immediately that something's off. Why is this town so odd? Why are very peculiar things happening? Eden Percell, because of her desire to look into everything, begins convincing Erik that the town is full of practicing witchcraft and she even makes the statement "And I think they have gotten dang good at it." Can she convince Erik, and if so, should they risk telling the other 2 drama queens their thoughts. What is Marfa? Why are the townspeople so secretive? Will Matt, Erik, Allie, and Eden discover the truth behind the mystery of the Marfa lights?—Andy Stapp

While on a road trip from a long weekend at the Terlingua cook-off, four lifelong friends decide to veer off road and venture into a small West Texas town known as Marfa. What attracted them to do so? Could it be the strange unexplained ghost lights that Marfa is known for? While on a fuel stop they meet two very strange employees of a secluded gas station. One of them offers them a chance to look into their future by pulling a ticket from his counter top 25 cent token fortune telling machine. What does it say? Can they trust it? When they enter Marfa, Texas they realize almost immediately that something's off. Why is this town so odd? Why are very peculiar things happening? Eden Percell, because of her desire to look into everything, begins convincing Erik that the town is full of practicing witchcraft and she even makes the statement "And I think they have gotten dang good at it." Can she convince Erik, and if so, should they risk telling the other 2 drama queens their thoughts. What is Marfa? Why are the townspeople so secretive? Will Matt, Erik, Allie, and Eden discover the truth behind the mystery of the Marfa lights? in the town. Despite their misgivings, the group decides to stay the night to visit the famous Marfa Lights, balls of yellow-orange, red, blue, and green lights that sometimes appear in the desert countryside. The group begins to experience paranormal and spiritual events happening, from bodiless voices to gypsies appearing to tell them their fate. They attribute the oddities to witchcraft and begin to look for a way out of Marfa. Will they be able to discover the secrets that Marfa holds?

DESTINATION MARFA is a beautifully shot movie that may dazzle viewers with its expertly lit shots and superb natural sets. Sadly, the plot, writing and directing don't match the quality of the cinematography and sets. Also, the story is sometimes confusing and stifled.

DESTINATION MARFA has a light, slightly allegorical, but undeveloped Christian worldview. For example, there are some Christian symbols in reference to a Day of the Dead celebration and references to dead people "moving on" from Purgatory. There's also a reference to final judgment. However, the movie doesn't develop any of these things into a consistent theology. DESTINATION MARFA also contains brief off-color jokes and some occult elements, including references to witchcraft, fortune telling and Tarot card readings. It turns out, however, that the messages in the fortune telling toy in the beginning of DESTINATION MARFA have been faked. Even so, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong or extreme caution.