There’s something that’s truly engaging about the minimalist way Dreamland tells its story about a teenage boy who wants nothing more than to escape his life of being trapped in a small Texas town during the Great Depression. Dreamland is a drama, a love story and even a thriller as the film progresses, yet it’s simple in its delivery and focus and because of this the film succeeds in ways it wouldn’t have had it chosen to go a more Bonnie and Clyde route than many tales are often tempted to replicate.
Eugene (Finn Cole) has lived in Texas, on the desolate farmlands that his parents were initially promised would yield crops and a good life many years prior. The entire town is struggling to stay afloat, with the banks constantly repossessing the land that never amounted to anything for anyone in the way that they’d all hoped. It’s a mundane existence which leaves Eugene dreaming of a better life like the one his father left him and his mother for back when Eugene was just five years old.
So when word gets out that there’s a fugitive named Allison Wells (Margot Robbie) on the loose in the area, Eugene recruits his friend Joe (Stephen Dinh) in hopes that they can track her down and claim the $10,000 reward to help their families. But Eugene is still a teenager (I don’t believe his age is mentioned, but I’d wager he’s about 17) so he has to follow his mother (Kerry Condon) and step-father’s (Travis Fimmel) rules, so their bounty hunting is cut short due to the sun going down and Eugene having to return home.
Later that night Eugene sneaks out of the house to the old family barn, where he reads detective stories in an attempt to escape his downtrodden reality, but what – or whom, I should say – he stumbles upon will change the course of his life forever. Inside the barn is Allison Wells herself, bleeding from a bullet wound and in dire need of help. Eugene is hesitant to do so at first, as he’s been told the things she’s done, such as murdering a child during a botched bank robbery; however, Allison assures him that she’d never do such a thing and that it was the police that killed the girl. She also says that if he helps get her a car so that she can escape to Mexico, that she’d send him $20,000, double her bounty.
What writer Nicolaas Zwart does well with Dreamland is that it doesn’t get sidetracked with police procedures or others being out looking for Allison, instead solely focusing on Eugene and Allison, their blossoming relationship and the path that it leads them on. That’s not to say that there isn’t talk about the case against Allison, as Eugene’s step-father is the town’s deputy and someone who wants to both bring her to justice, as well as claim the reward, it just doesn’t ever take control of the story.
No, Dreamland remains a story about a young man who wants nothing more than to break free of the chains that life has weighed him down with. So when a beautiful fugitive runs straight out of the pages of the magazines he’s read and escaped into all his life and into his arms, it’s just too much for him to pass up, so helping her get what she needs just becomes the logical move.
The film is a slow burn, but it’s a beautiful one to watch while it does. Director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte delivers some absolutely gorgeous shot choices that are elevated even higher thanks to Cinematographer Lyle Vincent. For a film that greatly takes place in a barren desert wasteland, these two sure did all they could to make things as visually captivating as possible.
The chemistry between Eugene and Allison is vital to the film’s success, and Cole and Robbie have it as strong as one could hope for. Cole is superb in showcases the young, inexperienced dreamer that Eugene is, and Robbie nails the damaged, yet hopeful character that is Allison. There are plenty of film’s that have a character fall in love incredibly quick just because it’s convenient to the plot; however, with Eugene’s age and desire for something more, his falling for Allison while her mind is elsewhere makes complete sense and works wonderfully with how Cole portrays the character.
Dreamland avoids falling victim to desiring to be more than it needs to be. While it would have been easy to have had Eugene and Allison stumble upon one another in different circumstances that saw them hit the road early on in the film to live out the usual bank robbers on the run fantasy, it instead chose to take a different, much more beneficial route that delivers tension in all the right spots, but also puts characters first and foremost, allowing for a more emotionally engaging story.
Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
Dreamland is a really nice looking film for what the filmmaker and cinematographer had to work with in terms of setting. The Blu-ray transfer looks great, with really crisp, clean colours and the night shots are clear as well, lacking any distracting muddied look. The audio also shines on all fronts, with the score playing harmoniously with the dialogue and sound effects, and the sandstorm scenes coming through the surround sound quite nicely.
Special Features:
There are unfortunately no special features on the disc.
Paramount Pictures Presents Dreamland. Directed by: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte. Written by: Nicolaas Zwart. Starring: Finn Cole, Margot Robbie, Stephen Dinh, Travis Fimmel, Kerry Condon. Running time: 98 Minutes. Rating: 14A. Released on Blu-ray: Jan. 19, 2021.
About Brendan Campbell
