Dream One

I first saw this film in 1985 and I liked it very much, it was written by Telsche Boorman daughter of director John Boorman, Who produced Dream One - Nemo. The story is an adaptation of "Little Nemo in Slumberland, by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. The special effects are a bit cheesy as you would expect in a low budget arty sort of film from the early 80s, But it has a great deal of charm. The story is dreamlike and childish, but it has a certain flare. I really liked Katrine Boorman's character the perpetually bored Countess Duchka. Also a very young and alarmingly ginger Charley Boorman is in this film. It's a shame that Jason Connery's film career didn't go very far, he looks the part in this, His acting in this? Well, I didn't hate it. Harvey Keitel plays it like well… him!

I must say that Mathilda May's performance as Alice was a bit insipid, but she too looked the part.

Nipsey Russell's Mr Rip, the Prospero magician character in Dream One could have been played a little more understated but he still came up with some profound moments. Dream One is an odd little arty film which you'll either hate or love, it resonated with me enough for me to buy the DVD and watch it again after 30 years.

Cary.

First this is a totally biased rating of 10/10, simply because I saw this film at such a young age and it stayed with long after I forgot the title. In fact if my father had not come into the room and remarked, 'That's Sean Connery's son," I probably would have never found it again.

The film starts with a boy being told a bedtime story and later that night having a nightmare about his parents dying in a car crash, which jolts him into action.

He runs into an elevator and there he descends into his own Oz. A dream world that looks like a pantomime set and that is populated with several different children's stories archetypes.

The film is a romance more than anything, but one for children and it operates on its own child-like logic. Some things happen just because they do and everything is exaggerated. The heart of it still lingers with me today and that ending, a dream you never want to end.

Probably not for everyone but I love it.

This movie isn't worth watching at all. I first watched it when I was about 12 years old, in the hope that it would be an interesting piece of cinema, but my opinion was the same as it is today: It's simply boring, has a confusing story and bad actors. Not even Harvey Keitel, normally one of my favorite actors, can save this flick from being a complete fiasco. And Jason Connery should better have continued his work within the series called Robin Hood, which was really brilliant. Even if you like fantasy or science fiction movies, there are still a lot of better examples. This is probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of bad ones.

Released in Australia under the much more descriptive (and apt) title "Dream One", this movie has been at my top 3 or 4 since I saw it back in about 1993. So much did I like it I hunted for, and finally found, an ex-rental VHS, which was in not very good condition. I dreaded each time I played it, it would be the last ...

Until, almost by sheer accident I saw the DVD in a shop. Pow.

Like a really good dream, it all seems to make some kind of sense at the time, but in the cold light of day, there is nothing left but bewilderment, and a longing to "go back" into that safe and secure land, where there are no questions, only comforting answers.

A type of "coming of age" experience where the man-child Nemo (Seth Kibel) is precipitated, via a faulty elevator in his home skyscraper, into a nether world where in the daytime, it is always twilight, and at night you can hear the stars roar. No sunshine, just red and blue light, outlining without necessarily illuminating. (In a nod to "The Wizard of Oz" the film format changes from blue and white to amazing colour.)

He discovers, as every boy would dream, a submarine beached and apparently deserted. He meets Cunegond (Charlie Boorman), a rather graceless young twerp who is just as lost as Nemo but won't admit to any weakness, and has a "pet" human sized monkey named ... "Monkey" (Dominique Pinon). Nemo rescues a beautiful young woman named Alice (Mathilda May), Princess of Yonderland, from the ocean, and falls in love with her (as any man-child would).

In the ensuing adventures he encounters the Magician, Mr Rip (Nipsy Russell), Legend (Harvey Kietel) a Zorro-like hero, and eventually a rocket ship, piloted by the mysterious Rals-Akrai (the aethereal Carole Bouquet). He is so much in love with Alice he tries to grow up and eventually become the child-man (Jason Connery).

Other characters, fusions of Nemo's real world and this dream unter-land come and go, in an almost ballet-masque fashion (Observe Rals-Akrai as she converses with world-weary Count Danilov (Michel Blanc) on the steps of the rocket ship.)

Unlike a dream, this movie can be returned to at any time, and even after a decade of viewing (usually every 2-3 months) it still induces a delicious sense of languorous ease.

The soundtrack (Gabriel Yared) is a perfect complement.

Don't try and understand this frankly surreal movie, just allow it to wash gently over you, and enjoy the sensual and sensuous experience, with its erotic undertones.

Mathilda May, you can enter into my dreams any time.

Fans of Little Nemo might be disappointed - the film has only vague references to McKay's extraordinary dreamworld. But it is an intriguing piece of cinema in it's own right. I couldn't really figure out what kind of film it wanted to be - for kids, science fantasy, or what. Suffice it to say I saw it 16 years ago and the memory lingers.