Dreamland

DREAMLAND is one of those little Indie films that sneaks up on you, draws you in and leaves you feeling fulfilled. Written by Tom Willett and directed with great sensitivity to both style and message by Jason Matzner, the film boasts a truly remarkable cast in every role and the ensemble acting is some of the finest in this year's lineup.

"Dreamland" is the name of a very small trailer park in New Mexico, out in the sticks, yes, but surrounded by the magnificence of majestic clouds in crystalline blue skies and a land free of industrial detritus - except for the powerlines that play such an important role in the story. In a sad trailer house live Audrey (Agnes Bruckner), a poet who has given up chances for college to remain with her father Henry (John Corbett), a man decimated by the death of his wife to the point that he is unable to leave the trailer even to buy the beer and cigarettes that sustain his life. Audrey also is caring for her closest friend Calista (Kelli Garner), a beautiful girl who dreams of becoming Miss America but knows her life is to be shortened by the fact that she suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. Audrey writes her poetry but her life is consumed by being the caretaker for Henry and Calista.

Into the trailer park moves a new 'family' - hunky young Mookie (Justin Long) and his mother ex-singer/performer Mary (Gina Gershon) and her live-in boyfriend Herb (Chris Mulkey). Audrey and Calista watch them unpack and while both girls find Mookie attractive, Audrey talks Calista into dating him. Audrey's only male contact is her 'sex-buddy', tacky and gawky Abraham (Brian Klugman) who works at the local convenience store with Audrey. Mookie and Calista begin an affair while Audrey looks on longingly, and when Calista lets Mookie know she has MS the relationship is strained: Mookie also is leaving for the university soon.

Audrey confesses her feelings for Mookie and Calista flees on a motorcycle to chase the now departed Mookie. She is in an accident and is hospitalized and since she has broken her relationship with her caretaker Audrey, Henry manages to draw enough courage to leave his trailer to sit at Calista's hospital bedside - along with visits from Mookie. Calista's accident makes her even more aware of her fractured future and she releases her feelings for Mookie, reconnects with Audrey, and Audrey's father discovers her many letters of acceptance to college she has hidden to prevent abandoning her role as caretaker and convinces Audrey to flow with her dreams instead of being imprisoned in Dreamland. And the manner in which each of the characters in the film resolves the changes now facing them is the tender ending of the story.

DREAMLAND is created by a very strong cast of fine actors who dwell solidly within their characters' psyches, making this somewhat surreal story very real indeed. The setting is extraordinary in its ordinariness and the camera-work by Jonathan Sela is impeccable. This is a strong story about coming of age, about quality of love, and about being human. It is a treasure. Grady Harp

With echoes of Allison Ander's "Gas, Food, Lodging", "Dreamland" tells a believable and engaging coming of age tale through the eyes of Audrey, a recent high school graduate caught at a personal crossroads. She lives in the ironically titled trailer park in the middle of the desert called Dreamland, which acts as a place to dream of something more, but few hold the hope required to get anywhere else. It's a stunning work with a muted visual canvas, showing images that evoke the desolation and abandonment the characters feel. Agnes Bruckner, who gave a stand-out performance in the little seen gem "Blue Car", again shows true skill as she keeps her highly conflicted character from becoming maudlin.

Dreamland is a film about hopes and dreams, fear and regret. Audrey and her father Henry live in a trailer park after Henry's wife has passed away. Henry is a drunk and deathly afraid of physically leaving the trailer park, where he has lived for the past several years. Calista, Audrey's best friend, is a beautiful, aspiring Miss America who has MS, counting the days until she dies. Dreamland explores a common theme of breaking personal boundaries (real or perceived) and having to face your own truth. It works because the context is exquisitely executed. The imagery is extremely well done, and Kelli Garner's performance, a hint of Marilyn Monroe, is the most difficult and deserves recognition. John Corbett's character does push his limits but he does a fine job. Gina Gershon has a bit part but does it well. The main flaw is the ending, and I wish they would have taken a more risqué approach rather than wrapping everything up in a nice bow.

This is a compelling, evocative coming of age story that has uniformly terrific performances and expert cinematography. The film invites and earns comparison with indie landmarks like GAS FOOD LODGING and RUBY IN PARADISE but is far more than a mere imitation. The stunning photography eschews the grainy, hand-held look of many independent films in favor of a classical expressionism that beautifully conveys the emotions at the story's core. Those emotions are in turn beautifully portrayed by a flawless cast that is given solid support by an unusually strong score and collection of source songs. For viewers looking for a solid character-based dramedy, this is a must see.

This is cliché-ridden nonsense not worth the time of day. Why even bother making a movie when the story is almost non-existent and the characters are thin retreads from a thousand other films? What on earth convinced a fine performer like Gina Gershon to take such a tiny, nothing role? Why on earth would the filmmakers hire a short and petite actor like Justin Long in the role of a potentially hot college basketball prospect? And how could the director not realize that exposing Kelli Garner's enormous chest in bikinis and plunging necklines would take attention away from everything else in her scenes? Regardless, nothing could cure this film from its essential ailment of triteness. C'mon, a coming-of-age love triangle? The intertwining lives of struggling dreamers in a small community? Ugh, Sundance/IFC Storyline Class 101. In fact, a small town young-people-in-love-triangle is as old as silent movies. Even getting past that, the filmmakers don't even have enough courage to make the characters tougher. They're all so soft, especially Corbett as the disconsolate alcoholic father. He's supposed to be such a handful that Agnes Bruckner's character feels the need to take care of him rather than go off to college, but he's such a mild drunk (no wild jags, no barking at the moon, no violence, no buried in his own vomit, etc.) and written without any clinging neediness for his daughter, that we never get any sense that he needs her around as his keeper. And when Garner needs watching over later in the film, Corbett drops the emotional burnout routine in thirty seconds flat and comes to her aid with barely a ripple of personal struggle. We also simply get told that Bruckner is brilliant and in demand as a potential college student with acceptances pouring in the mail, even though she lives out in the middle of nowhere in a trailer park. And with Long going back to college and Bruckner's nerdy work buddy going off to college, it seems Dreamland could create its own fraternity. Then there's poor Kelli Garner stuck with the cliché "sick-girl" role straight out of the Hallmark Channel (although there's no Sally Field-type mom/aunt rubbing her forehead). Sure she's got MS, and is supposed to be doomed, and even gets to be in the climactic accident, but she's filmed in swimwear and other revealing outfits and never looks less than quite healthy and voluptuous. And she gets to fool around with various absurd gimmicks to relieve her MS, including bee swarms and clutching live power lines. It's such nonsense that I half expected the filmmakers to take it to its ultimate combination at the finish -- by having Garner clutch a power line while in the middle of a bee swarm while wearing a bikini (and maybe a tin foil hat, too). Wait, perhaps I'm all wrong: could this film just be a bad joke played on the audience? You can only hope.