Mean Dreams

Mean Dreams is a nifty neo-noir set in Canada. Northern Ontario near Sault Ste. Marie to be more precise. The film centers around Casey and Jonas, two lovers on the lam from Casey's abusive cop father played brilliantly by the late Bill Paxton in his last role before his untimely death. The film invoked memories for me of Nicholas Ray's "They Live by Night" 1948 and Robert Altman's remake of the film called "Thieves Like Us" 1974. But the film may be closest to Terrance Malick's "Badlands" 1973 where Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen were the two lovers on the lam after murdering Sissy's abusive father played by Warren Oates. But comparisons can continue as it allowed me to recall the quirky "Moonrise Kingdom" directed by Wes Anderson.

Lovers on the lam is old theme most famously portrayed by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the ill fated lovers "Bonnie and Clyde" 1967. Both Casey and Jonas, played by Sophie Nelisse and Josh Wiggins, both of whom we are liable to see more of, are good in this film. Starting out as young and naive they quickly have to grow up as Jonas gets caught up in a drug deal gone wrong that was set up by Casey's father. Indeed how do you go to the police when it is the police that are bad guys. Colm Feore plays the other bad cop. You just know that none of this going to end well even if the lovers are somehow seen as getting away in the end.

The film is well-acted. It develops slowly and builds. We get to like Casey and Jonas and do really hope they escape the abusive father (Paxton). It's an indie neo-noir film worthy of being amongst the many neo-noirs that come out over the years. One of the biggest stars in the film is the landscape of Northern Ontario from the lakes, the fields and yes the small towns that prevail up there. Seeing the gorgeous landscape made me want to take a trip back.

The American-Canadian thriller "Mean Dreams" (R, 1:48) is one of two posthumous film releases for Bill Paxton (in addition to 2017's "The Circle", in which he has a small role). When Paxton died suddenly of complications from heart surgery at the age of 61 early in 2017, celebrity expressions of sorrow struck one consistent chord, well represented by Arnold Schwarzenegger's tweet that Paxton "could play any role, but he was best at being Bill – a great human being with a huge heart." In Paxton's most famous roles, he was an ordinary, basically decent guy caught up in extraordinary circumstances (as he was in "Apollo 13", "Twister", "Titanic" and "U-571"). He was also very good at playing tough and/or morally ambiguous characters (as he did in "Aliens", "A Simple Plan", "Edge of Tomorrow" and his award-winning HBO series "Big Love"), and some of his best work was as a basically bad person (as in "Weird Science", "True Lies", "Frailty" (which he also directed) and "Training Day", the TV series he was acting in when he died). "Mean Dreams" is another great example of Paxton playing against his true personality.

In this film, Paxton plays Wayne Caraway, a rural Michigan police officer and single dad, who is pretty bad at both roles – and a pretty bad person in general. When local boy Jonas Ford (Josh Wiggins, the star of 2015's "Max") starts seeing Wayne's teenage daughter, Casey (Sophie Nélisse, who played the title role in 2013's "The Book Thief"), Wayne is pretty… mean about shattering Jonas' dreams of getting closer to Casey. Mostly it's because Jonas isn't shy about trying to protect Casey from Wayne's abuse, and because Wayne doesn't want Jonas nosing around and discovering any of his other... activities.

After Jonas fails to get his father (Joe Cobden) or Wayne's boss (Colm Feore) to intervene on Casey's behalf, he takes matters into his own hands. When he witnesses an example of just how bad a man that Wayne is, Jonas steals some money, grabs Casey and hits the road. Of course, Wayne comes after his daughter – with a (literal) vengeance. As Jonas and Casey struggle to get away from Casey's dad for good, they confront the harsh realities of life on the run (especially as it pertains to two teenagers in the middle of nowhere), break some laws and put their safety and the safety of others at risk along the way.

"Mean Dreams" is a small, but entertaining coming-of-age movie. The two teen protagonists aren't quite Bonnie and Clyde, but their saga is engaging and their love story is affecting. Nélisse and Wiggins are two rising young stars whose emerging talents shine through in sympathetic roles and Paxton does his usual expert work as one really bad dude. The script (by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby) and the direction (by Nathan Morlando) keep the action and dialog both unusually grounded and fairly unpredictable, especially for this kind of film. The score and the cinematography (filmed creatively and beautifully in northern Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie) are also very good, especially for a movie made on a small budget. The film is a bit lacking in gravitas, but it's worth a look – to see Paxton in his last major role – and for the overall quality of the film itself. "B+"

On the whole, this is a very good movie all round. The four main cast members are superb, and the story is heavily character-driven, with no ridiculous stunts and special effects present to drown the characters out at any stage.

The lean score and graceful cinematography allow the story to be told at an ideal pace, and aren't used to lift the intensity as one would expect with this genre because the story is good enough to take care of this on its own. I never felt as if things were dragging or being rushed, and things were largely unpredictable aside from the ending, which was satisfying nonetheless.

For a good vs bad theme, the story favors neither side over the other in terms of skill and resources. So often the bad guys are made to look like fools but this isn't the case here, which I found to be quite refreshing. The teen romance side of things is handled better than almost any other examples I've seen. There aren't any cringe-worthy moments at all.

In all, Mean Dreams was much better than I expected, and well worth the time I spent watching it. If you're after a low budget thriller which is well made, character-driven, and intelligently written, you could settle for much worse than this one.

Bill Paxton is menacingly great. The two leads have good chemistry and their love felt pure and authentic. Paxton's daughter sharing her painful and violent family history, and her boyfriend's reaction to hearing it felt raw and I connected to it. The movie's scenery is so relaxing and beautiful. Even the on-the-run parts were fine, until the rushed, disjointed, predictable final 36 minutes... I wish they had cut out some of the drama and ended the movie with the lovebirds on the bus riding into a new and unknown future.

"She needs help. I gotta do something." Casey (Nélisse) has just moved into town and finds a friend in Jonas (Wiggins). The two begin to spend an awful lot of time together against the wishes of Wayne (Paxton), Casey's abusive dad. When Jonas tries to help Casey a series of events occur that alter the lives of all three involved. This is a movie where, going in, I thought it had the possibility of being very slow and drawn out. I can't say I was completely wrong but it did move a little quicker than I expected and did have a story that kept me engaged the entire time. There were a few surprise aspects in this, but for the most part it was pretty predictable. The real reason to watch though is for Paxton. He plays a character so unlikable and it really adds to the tension of the movie as you are almost willing the kids to get away from him. Overall, nothing mind blowing or amazing but this is worth a watch and I liked it more than I expected to. I give this a low B.