Dreamland is a 2019 Canadian fantasy drama-thriller film, directed by Bruce McDonald.[1] The film stars Stephen McHattie in a dual role as The Maestro, a jazz musician who has been hired by the Countess (Juliette Lewis) to play at the wedding of her vampire brother (Tómas Lemarquis), and Johnny Deadeyes, a hitman who has been hired by crime boss Hercules (Henry Rollins) to kill the musician.[2]
| Dreamland | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Film poster | |
| Directed by | Bruce McDonald |
| Written by | Tony Burgess Patrick Whistler |
| Produced by | Jesus Gonzalez-Elvira Sebastian Schelenz |
| Starring | Stephen McHattie Juliette Lewis Henry Rollins Tómas Lemarquis |
| Cinematography | Richard Van Oosterhout |
| Edited by | Duff Smith |
| Music by | Jonathan Goldsmith |
Production companies | Calach Films Goodbye Productions Velvet Films |
| Distributed by | A71 Entertainment Dark Star Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The film has been described as a "spinoff" of McDonald's 2008 film Pontypool, in that it jumps off from the post-credits scene in Pontypool in which McHattie and Lisa Houle were depicted in period garb speaking a foreign language.[3]
The film premiered at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2019,[4] and was screened at various film festivals before going into commercial release in 2020.[1] It received mixed reviews from critics who noted the lack of coherence.
Production
editThe film was shot in Belgium and Luxembourg.[5] Its score was composed principally by Jonathan Goldsmith, although it also includes a jazz-based arrangement of Eurythmics' 1999 single "I Saved the World Today".[6]
Although not named within the film, the character of the jazz musician was loosely based on Chet Baker.[7]
Critical response
editReview aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a positive score of 54% with rating average of 5.8/10 based on 37 reviews. The critics' consensus states: "While it may entrance audiences in search of the thoroughly strange, Dreamland lives down to its title by failing to cohere in any meaningful way."[8]
Alex Rose of Cult MTL wrote that "Though it would be simple to just call Dreamland second-rate Lynch and leave it at that, there’s both more going on here and less lofty ideals than one might expect. Where a lot of these films (recent examples off the top of my head include Terminal, Passion Play, Hotel Artemis and Mute) fail is in their absolute lack of a sense of humour; even the ones that are would-be black comedies tend to fall completely up their own assholes in a smug acceptance of irony as the end-all be-all. Dreamland, to its complete and utter benefit, is a film that both wallows in grotesque clichés and seeks to upend them."[1]
For That Shelf, Pat Mullen opined that "There’s some promise to the ludicrously violent doppelgänger schadenfreude between the McHatties. However, the all-over-the-map screenplay veers in too many directions. Dreamland evokes the hazy fever of a midnight madness flick. It flows in and out of scenes like a woozy couch potato channel-surfing at 2 AM...Dreamland often feels weird simply for the sake of being weird. One can only imagine which drugs had higher potency: the ones that fuelled the screenplay or the ones McDonald downed before reading it."[2]
Chris Knight of Postmedia wrote that "It's the kind of film that would have killed at the Toronto festival's Midnight Madness program, and it may have a harder time finding its audience in the scattered realm of VOD. But its boozy, Chet-Baker-meets-Eurythmics vibe (just wait for The Maestro's closing number) makes it a late-night trip worth taking."[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c Alex Rose, "Bruce McDonald’s totally gonzo new movie Dreamland needs to be seen". Cult MTL, May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Pat Mullen, "Dreamland Review: WTF Bruce?". That Shelf, May 30, 2020.
- ^ Chris Vander Kaay (April 3, 2018). "[Exclusive] 'Pontypool' Spinoff Coming Soon and Direct Sequel in the Works!". Bloody Disgusting.
- ^ Joseph Perry, "Brussels IFFF Review: Doppelgängers, Vampires, and Killer Kids Inhabit Bruce McDonald’s Dreamland". Diabolique Magazine, May 6, 2019.
- ^ Todd Gilchrist, "‘Dreamland’ Director Bruce McDonald on How His Design Team Created a Key Sequence". Variety, June 5, 2020.
- ^ "Vampires & Jazz: In Conversation With ‘Dreamland’ Director Bruce McDonald". BeatRoute, June 2020.
- ^ Brad Wheeler, "With his strangely dark drama Dreamland, Bruce McDonald wakes up the weirdos: Midnight meets madness in a surrealist exercise in existentialism and deft satire". The Globe and Mail, May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Dreamland (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. June 5, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
- ^ Chris Knight, "Vampy vampires; Dreamland follows its own set of rules but it's a voyage well worth taking". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, June 1, 2020.