Directed by:
Renee Chabria
Starring:
John Leguizamo ………. Antonio
Elizabeth Peña ………. Mirabella
Ana Claudia Talancón ………. Nina
Nestor Serrano ………. Zorro
José MarÃÂa Yazpik ………. Pancho
Winston J. Rocha ………. Papa
Rafael Simón ………. Adón
Jsu Garcia ………. Rafael
Rick Simon ………. Jorge
The Movie
Antonio has always dreamed of being a musician, ever since he was a child he’s had a passion for the art of sound. His mother was a large inspiration to him and supported him in whatever he cared for. When his mother meets her untimely death he’s lost with no sense of direction of support. He moves to California where his uncle lives and constantly professes how magnificent it is and how all your dreams can come true there. He even became the owner of his own restaurant, well at least that’s what he told his family back home.
Antonio leaves for California in hopes to make his dreams a reality just like his uncle, only he soon finds out his uncle didn’t actually own the restaurant, he was more like the shift manager at a local Mexican style fast food chain. Down on his luck as it is Antonio quickly finds himself unemployed due to cut backs at the restaurant. With no job, no sense of direction, Antonio suddenly finds himself forgetting what his dream was that brought him out there in the first place.
He meets a manager named Zorro who tells him that with his sound he could go places with his talent. Zorro then tells him about a local battle of the bands type competition where the winners receive ten thousand dollars and will be the opening act of a mystery musician. After thinking long and hard about it Antonio agrees and before we know it he’s set up with a band and is on his way.
Three days before the competition the three other guys in the band leave Antonio high and dry leaving him with no shot at getting in to the competition. They instead plan to enter themselves. He almost instantaneously finds a local band in a bar singing for spare change and gets them to agree on entering the competition with him but without a supporting singer they’re lost. Enter His neighbor Marabella a recently divorced mother of two who used to be a singer but repeatedly puts herself and her dream down by convincing herself that she’s to old and not pretty enough to be anybody now. Antonio helps marabella find her inner beauty at the same time she helps him get his courage.
When your film is titled “Dream” you would think it should show a character struggling to get by and over the coarse of the film pull himself to the next level in his journey and eventually grasp that gold ring. Instead with Sueno Antonio has his dream handed to him on a silver platter not once ever having to deal with any type of dilemma or road block along the away. Well he does but he usually will find a solution for it within the next three minutes keeping suspense to a bare minimum. Perhaps “Suerte” is a more appropriate title for the movie since it plays out like blind luck rather than a dream.
The performances are strong in the movie between the two main characters, all of whom do their very best to keep the movie as grounded to earth as possible. Because if they didn’t the movie would just seem like one giant coincident and totally impractical. Between Leguizamo and Peña the two manage to carry the film from start to finish with enjoyable and intriguing characters stuck in a stale predictable and often times boring story.
The message in the movie is clear that you shouldn’t give up on your dreams and to always believe in yourself, and is commendable. If only they focused on the story and script instead of one running theme. The characters are genuine and the performers who play them do a stand up job, and if given a better story they could have made something wonderful. Instead they’re left with something that blends in to the countless other stories of a musician searching for his destiny.
score: 4.5/10
The Video
(Presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
The unusual 1.78:1 presentation is leading me to believe Sony is joining Lionsgate by chopping up films original aspect rations simply to fill the entire screen on widescreen televisions. I couldn’t locate the films OAR online but I believe it was filmed in 2.35:1. If it was then the film looks decent in a presentation sense where it doesn’t look out of place but there’s an issue with grain on the DVD in just about every scene. Which has more to do with how it was filmed than how it was handled for DVD.
The Audio
(English, Spanish, Thai, French & Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound)
Even if the dubbing for songs don’t sync with the mouth movement of the actors as well as it should, the musical numbers in the film sound wonderful. While a low budget and relatively obscure film the producers of the DVD made ample use of the rear speakers when they’re needed.
The Extras
Like trailers? Because that’s all you’ll be getting with Sueño. No commentary track or anything else of substance was included on the disc, just trailers for The Cave, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Gospel and La Bamba. What the first two trailers have to do with this movie I’ll never know.
score: 1/10
