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DREAMLAND
Director: Bruce McDonald Cast: Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis, Tómas Lemarquis, Lisa Houle, Morgan Csarno-Peklar, Themis Pauwels, Astrid Roos, Hana Sofia Lopes, Guillaume Kerbusch, Stéphane Bissot, Sam Louwyck MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:32 Release Date: 6/5/20 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 4, 2020 Dreamland is a weird fable about, well, something. It features an assassin and a trumpet player who look identical, a sociopathic but petty crime lord, and a wedding between a trafficked child and vampiric count. The movie is certainly about power and corruption, but it's mostly about how bizarre and absurd the filmmakers can make this story. It all begins with a hitman (played by Stephen McHattie), whose first name isn't revealed until the end (and whose surname, listed in the credits, almost makes up for the anticlimax of the revelation), killing some sex traffickers. The order came from his boss Hercules (Henry Rollins), who runs his criminal empire from the office of a stylish nightclub. The assassin thought he was doing good, but Hercules has other plans. He's taking over the trafficking of young girls. The main thread of the story's assorted ones—which come together a lavish wedding reception featuring dignitaries of entertainment and crime and politics—has the assassin trying to rescue a young neighbor from Hercules' operation. There's also the matter of the girl's "fiancé," an actual vampire (played by Tómas Lemarquis), and his countess sister (played by Juliette Lewis), who's putting together the ceremony. Hercules also has his own, twisted version of Baker Street Irregulars—kids dressed like 1930s gangsters and packing pistols. Of key importance for the story's most confusing elements (visions or premonitions, with the possibility of some kind of psychic link or mental transference) is a famed, drug-addicted trumpet player. He's also played by McHattie (quite good in both roles), but the characters don't seem to notice they're identical—until it becomes necessary for the plot, that is. The screenwriters, Tony Burgess and Patrick Whistler, have certainly invented a strange world, which seems simultaneously of the past and contemporary and set within some future, populated by even stranger characters. Director Bruce McDonald plays it straight as a neo-noir, so that the story's eccentricities are highlighted even more. In terms of tone, then, the movie is daring in the way it blends legitimately disturbing story elements with the pitch-dark comedy of its more absurdist conceits and surreal concepts. Dreamland, though, feels like a collection of odd ideas, set within a familiar frame but almost haphazardly assembled. The broad outlines of plot and theme are here, but they're not developed enough for them to make much sense. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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