Released in 2006 and directed by Jason Matzner, "Dreamland" is slice-of-life drama about several people at a small trailer park called Dreamland in the New Mexican desert. A blossoming poetess (Agnes Bruckner) and her sickly Miss America wannabe bestie (Kelli Garner) are both stirred by a newly arrived basketball protégé (Justin Long), which eventually creates conflict. Also on hand are a drug-addled "boy toy" (Brian Klugman), a father struggling with grief & alcoholism (John Corbett) and a couple musicians (Gina Gershon & Chris Mulkey).
This is a subdued and mundane indie drama with beautiful New Mexican cinematography, a spiritual soundtrack and reverential tone. From the get-go it is pictorially established that the looming transmission towers represent the Fountain of Life (the Creator) and the healing powers thereof, which draw the physically, mentally or spiritually broken. The cast are at various stages of searching, lost-ness or suffering.
One critic panned the film on the grounds that it seemed like "Debbie Downer" wrote the script, but this simply isn't accurate. Yes, there are some sad or foolish facts-of-life addressed, but there's something intangibly beautiful and transcendent going on behind the scenes throughout. Not every loose-end is tied up at the end, but the movie leaves you with a sense of hope. It also leaves you wondering.
The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in New Mexico (Placitas, Rio Rancho & Albuquerque). WRITER: Tom Willett.
GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)
This is a subdued and mundane indie drama with beautiful New Mexican cinematography, a spiritual soundtrack and reverential tone. From the get-go it is pictorially established that the looming transmission towers represent the Fountain of Life (the Creator) and the healing powers thereof, which draw the physically, mentally or spiritually broken. The cast are at various stages of searching, lost-ness or suffering.
One critic panned the film on the grounds that it seemed like "Debbie Downer" wrote the script, but this simply isn't accurate. Yes, there are some sad or foolish facts-of-life addressed, but there's something intangibly beautiful and transcendent going on behind the scenes throughout. Not every loose-end is tied up at the end, but the movie leaves you with a sense of hope. It also leaves you wondering.
The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in New Mexico (Placitas, Rio Rancho & Albuquerque). WRITER: Tom Willett.
GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)