Dreamland

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.

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.

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 an introspective film about a young girl named Audrey. Her mother has died, her father is agoraphobic, and her best friend is struggling with her health as well. They live in a beautiful area of New Mexico, but their home is a dismal trailer park. Audrey would like to escape this dead end life but sees no way out since most of the people she loves depend on her. This movie is about her (and their) journey to discover how they can escape their ruts.

The film is well made; the characters are all well developed, and Agnes Bruckner, John Corbett (in a big departure from his usual persona) and Justin Long (among others!!) all do a great job portraying their respective characters.

Unfortunately, this film won't reach a wide audience, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed it.

This is one of those movies that chills the heat out of your bones. It depicts a world in which white trash circles within its own boundaries and can't seem to escape from it. It's a movie about feelings and how to handle them in your daily business. Two young girls seem to be stuck in a provisionary trailer park called "Dreamland", those two girls only have themselves to cling to until a new family moves in, one of the new members is a college boy that aims at being a star at pro-basketball at a the local club. He's just a jerk with little prospects but he impresses both girls and hooks up with the one who has MS and is due to die soon. Maybe it's his compassion, that is not clear, she's the most beautiful of the two (not to my opinion), well if you like big breasts then maybe. However, the relation those two girls had, after the boy arrived deteriorates; for the girl with MS spends all of her time on him (who doesn't recognize that?) so the two girls don't have these long hours together reminiscing about their future anymore. But it's about more than that, it's about loyalty, caring for the ones next to you without consent, longing for an escape to break the inevitable circle of life. Despite some cheap scenes this movie is a desolate cry for help to the humans next to you, a solemn oath to the ones closest to you.