This review contains spoilers and sexual content.
After staring at the theater screen in confusion for an hour and 38 minutes, I decided that “Dreams” is not impressionistic.
Starring Jessica Chastain and Isaac Hernández, the movie showcases an affair between a wealthy woman and an undocumented Mexican ballet dancer.
Given that Chastain is an Academy Award-winning actress, I was just expecting more.
There is no dialogue for the first 10 minutes of the movie. The opening shot is Fernando Rodríguez (Hernández) emerging from a truck that traveled from Mexico to California.
He then walks his way to San Francisco, where it is unclear whose house he arrives at. I was left wondering how he knew of this house or if he was trespassing — a bit more context would have helped.
Later, it’s revealed to be Jennifer McCarthy’s (Chastain) house. The next scene is a jump cut to her and Fernando having sexual relations, which, without any buildup, is jarring to the viewer’s eye. These first few scenes without dialogue or context force viewers to put unnecessary puzzle pieces together and divert their attention.
Throughout the movie I felt their cross-culture, cross-wealth relationship lacked passion. Their connection did not feel real, exuding little warmth for each other. I expected for there to be more yearning, but the sex scenes felt vile and as they tore each other’s clothes off in what they meant to be passion, just seemed fake.
Plus, Hernández’s acting does not give his character much personality, which only added to the lack of heat in the movie.
It was hard to tell what the intended message was. It had so much potential to go in depth with immigration and how relationships like theirs could break stereotypes. This was especially true when Jennifer’s father implies she should not be dating Fernando because he is undocumented.
After this scene, the movie could have gone forward with this hesitancy of accepting immigrants to be part of the family contrasting with the philanthropy of Jennifer’s family towards the group, but that does not happen. Throughout the movie, Jennifer debates with her familial expectations and her love for Fernando. “Dreams” does not explore this theme enough to carry any poignancy or significance.
I also could not for the life of me figure out why this movie was named “Dreams.” The only dream was Fernando’s of becoming a successful ballet dancer. That was not focused on in depth, only when it added to the tumultuous relationship between him and Jennifer.
I forgot it was even called “Dreams” because it is not even a dream. If we’re following the ballet theme, the whole movie is a bunch of dancers on a stage that couldn’t dance.
The cynical ending added to my disappointment. It introduces a sexual violence incident through Jennifer, which is a sudden twist to this movie that I felt overshadowed the other, more prominent concepts of the movie. It makes the other characters view Fernando as a monster and have sympathy for Jennifer.
These little themes that never blossomed into anything real make the intended lessons from the movie even more confusing.
Now, it is okay to leave some themes up to interpretation, but not everything should be a guessing game. Viewers need something to hold onto and to experience deeply through the characters.
This movie is ultimately boring and does not do justice to the social themes it minutely explores.
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