The Dream Catcher

A really touching character driven roadmovie, with excellent performances by the two main characters (especially the youngest one).

I can honestly say that this is one of my top five favourite movies. Too bad I only got the chance to see it once. If you get the chance, don't miss it! This movie will stay with you for days after seeing it. Nevermind all the meaningless hollywood flicks, THIS is what movies are all about.

It is nice to see films like this are being made, and are getting to the public in some way or another. This film has won several awards and nominations from Film festivals around the world. The independent film is a story of two youths who meet up traveling west for very different reasons. Through their encounters with different walks of life on the highways and train trails of America they form a bond. This film is as true to life as we're willing to admit and makes the story one where anybody can relate and take something from. Paddy Conner who plays Albert is amazing and funny. He keeps the film, which can be very serious at times, light hearted and you'll find yourself chuckling through out the entire film. Maurice Compte, who plays Freddy gives a strong performance as a troubled teen, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every character in this film, no matter how brief of a role, has a depth that Hollywood films wish they could emulate. All in all this is a great film that you will love to watch and absorb. I recommend this film to everyone, no matter what your taste in film this has it all, humor, sadness, stunts, lovable characters, hated characters, and even a dog...can't go wrong with that combination can you? Look for it...it'll be worth it.

Following the screening of this film at the Minneapolis International Film Festival, Ed Radtke, M.S. Nieson, and one of the film's coordinators spoke about the film and answered any questions the audience had. When asked a question about distribution, Radtke unfortunately answered with details about distributors' unwillingness to release a film because it may not be the easiest film to market. That is a shame because this film, the Emerging Filmmaker Competition Grand Prize Winner for Best Narrative Feature, may not be seen by American audiences.

"The Dream Catcher" is a film masterfully shot by the hand of up-and-coming cinematographer Terry Stacey in the vision of writer/director Ed Radtke. Their collaborative vision takes the form of a thoughtful and affecting piece about two young hitchhikers who have taken to the road to escape their individual lives. In doing so, their paths cross, and they eventually decide to take to the road together, although Freddy does so quite reluctantly. The two are masterfully contrasted. Freddy is stoic and a thoughtful, some-time thief, while Albert is talkative and an unremorseful kleptomaniac. Both come from similar backgrounds, and their journey never stray from paths deeply rooted in realism.

This film possesses a quality rarely found in studio films. The characters are tragically real, the direction surprisingly adept, and the cinematography has a quality rarely found on a movie with such a low budget. "The Dream Catcher" is a film that, if you have the chance to see (or even have the most minute chance of affecting the possible distribution of this film in any vein), you should see because it has heart not often found in Hollywood cinema.

I was very enthusiastic because the trailer was promising, rich in elements that often appeal to me: the road, life, encounters, emotion. Finally, although the film is very beautiful to watch, with very noble road-movie settings, the story didn't really move me. I had a hard time finding the characters endearing, I think the script doesn't nourish them enough. The dream catcher theme is very little explored while there was a lot to show in that symbolisme In addition, the action is very limited, even non-existent, which makes a double effect of flatness. Too bad because this film could certainly have been much more than that. .

What is amazing about this movie is its sensitivity, its patience for nuance, its willingness to tolerate silences, those pauses in conversation when the real communication happens.... We see the characters' faces, the subtle shifts in their expression; we see little details such as the streaks of raindrops on a car window, the little details that make up the fabric of the characters' lives. We listen to their conversations, conversations that develop gradually and resolve not in some punchline but in an open-ended yet meaningful manner. We see cornfields and average American neighborhoods, Midwestern ones on a cloudy day, and gas stations, and diners, and truck-stop restrooms, the kinds of things one normally only sees in real life but not in a movie. We hear the earthy talk of the typical American teenager; we witness the embarrassing sexual bragging of unattractive characters; we witness the warm and peace-pervaded family life on an American Indian reservation: everything in this movie is presented with a subdued, almost documentary-style realism and is yet richly, poetically textured in a way that only a highly artistic feature film, rather than an actual documentary, would typically be. The movie has a European quality about it in its quiet, sensitive poetry, and yet, it is a thoroughly American film that presents Amerian life unmasked, without the typical clichés and packaging in which American life is frequently presented in the media. This film is a must-see.