REVIEW
For anybody who has ever been torn between dreams and an overwhelming sense of responsibility – Dreamland is for you.

A bit long winded and at times overly simplistic, Jason Matzner’s Dreamland is a sensitive and detailed look into a young girl’s struggle between dreams and duty, between future hope and present responsibility.  With impressive cinematography and inspired performances from its leads, Dreamland lands just shy of perfection. 

Audrey (Agnes Bruckner), a writer, a poet, is a recent high school graduate who lives in the duly titled Dreamland, a trailer park that boasts a hot tub perfect for all-day soaks and breath-taking vistas in every direction.  Audrey lives with her severely depressed father Henry (John Corbett) and has assigned herself the care-taking role of her terminally ill best friend Calista (Kelli Garner).

With college offers trickling in daily, Audrey struggles with the desire to spread her wings and a belief that her only true option is to stay in Dreamland to take care of those she loves.  Complications arise when her mini-mart working, casual sex-having life is turned end over end by the arrival of the basketball playing Mookie (Justin Long).  When a love triangle blossoms between Audrey, Mookie and Calista, Audrey must once again decide whether she will live for herself or remain in self-imposed martyrdom.

Dreamland doesn’t rush itself.  It is slow asking its viewers to breathe deeply and soak for a few minutes in each scene.  At times this works beautifully.  At other times, it is infuriating.  By tightening some dialogue and cutting out a few scenes (the interpretations of Audrey’s poetry are redundant in light of the evocative shots and lighting), Dreamland would have moved easily from great to excellent.

Jonathan Sela’s cinematographic choices are superb – Someone should just really dedicate their life to filming the New Mexico vistas.  Building off the glorious and rich scenery, Sela does an excellent job at evoking intimacy, warmth or trouble through sensitive and evocative lighting.  He couples this sensitivity with angles and close-ups of Calista and especially Audrey that go a long way to capturing their struggle, their inner process, their potential.  Both girls are shot in such a way that they are almost pretty – seemingly reinforcing the trailer trash stereotype while at the same time struggling against it. 

As far as performances go, Bruckner does a beautiful job of saying everything without saying anything.  Her struggle is palpable, believable and plays out well on the screen.  We admire her strength but want to save her from herself all at the same time.  Garner is her perfect foil – bubbly and expressive when Bruckner is silent and brooding.  You wonder for a moment why the two would even be friends but in the next scene find yourself thinking, “When were they not?”

John Corbett is great as Henry, Audrey’s destroyed and depressed father who can’t venture out of Dreamland without suffering a panic attack.  With his typical bravado and quick grin nowhere to be found, Corbett gives a heart-wrenching glimpse into grief, loss and the emotionally turmoil that can take hold of everything, refusing to let go no matter how many times you ask.  I was expecting to despise Henry, expecting him to be the viciously evil source that held Audrey back from the life she could lead.  But I didn’t hate him.  I rooted for him.

Justin Long is surprisingly perfect as the sensitive b-baller Mookie.  Physical perfection would indeed seem out of place in a trailer park like Dreamland and thus Long’s gangly form, genuine personality and sensitive nature fuse seamlessly to make Mookie the desired apple of both girls’ eyes. Luckily, his acting chops move him beyond just simple eye candy to a genuine leading man.

The end may sum things up a bit too nicely with a “People may need you but if they truly love you, they will want to let you go, let you pursue what is best for you” message but the pat ending doesn’t overshadow all the goodness that comes before it.  Ultimately, as things in Dreamland continue to spin out of control, back into focus and then out of control once more, we find ourselves in a beautifully shot, finely acted, well scripted coming of age story that is not only entertaining but an excellent artistic achievement.