I was wonderfully surprised to see this film at the Midwest Independent Film Festival. By showing The Dream Play, the level of the festival was definitely raised. I feel this film is courageous in its expression, multileveled and well balanced. The acting was superb. The cinematography and sound I think the filmmakers used in a very creative way. After being fed by Hollywood junk, numerous shaky camera indie productions and meaningless mumblecore offerings, this film was a breath of fresh air. It is something new and original. I could not believe that someone who can create such mature cinema actually lives in Chicago. The originality of expression, the multiple interpretations of the story, the ideas and themes that connected on many levels, and the poetry the film evokes makes me want to see this film several times to fully appreciate and understand it. The themes of chance and design, destiny and free will, identity, existence and God, things often mysterious and ineffable are elegantly explored and presented in a form of a puzzle. This film is like a mosaic that viewers should put together. It is a story inside of a story, inside of a play, inside of a film. Existential questions like the quotation by Sartre "are we all just actors on the stage of life without a clue or direction," are cleverly planted through dialog in the beginning and later dramatically counterpointed by the characters of the theater director, the playwright and ultimately, with a sharpness of a metaphorical zest by a puppet scene. Theater scenes from Strindberg's 'The Dream Play' are cleverly chosen and staged with verve and humor. It is hard to stop thinking about this film. The connotations are endless. The film is perfectly paced and has the great rhythm allowing the plethora of emotional and intellectual stimuli to be processed and experienced. And of course, it was greatly complemented by the beautiful and sophisticated music of the great jazz master Patricia Barber. A film like this is not for everyone. This film is going to be a delight and delicious pleasure for many film connoisseurs. After the screening, the trailer for the companion film by the same filmmakers was shown. That film apparently shows the same story from different characters perspective. I can hardly wait to see that other film. I hope that whoever selects films for The Midwest Independent Film Festival will have the sense to program that film soon. I am sure the theater will be packed again. Quality films like this raise the bar for all independent filmmakers and contribute to affirmation of independent films not only in the Midwest, but everywhere.
2 Reviews
Thoughtful drama
mediascribe4 October 2014
It's a curiously engrossing drama that's arty and smart. The story and action builds slowly and peaks at the end when it should. And the stage play rehearsal scenes (in the middle of the movie) are very funny because they capture the madness, insecurities and backstage intrigues of legitimate theater. The stage-as-a-facade dovetails nicely with the drama portion of the movies that hits home the notion that what you see isn't always real. The movie had a lingering effect on me. Afterwards, I found myself parsing over twists and turns in the plot that can be interpreted several different ways. The acting is first rate and the characters are fleshed out. I see a lot of independent films where a few actors who are wooden ruin things, but that's not the case here. Also, this film has first rate staging and technical quality from the DVD I watched, which again is not the case with many indie films I see.
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