Dallas Fisher

Dreams are sometimes just that, dreams.

An unrealistic dream of mine has always been Jessica Chastain. The dream wasn’t dating her or anything, she’s just there in my mind a lot, so I guess it’s more of a daydream. A related dream of mine was having an erotic thriller starring Jessica that captivates my attention from beginning to end, and it needed to be filled with hauntingly great sex scenes. Unfortunately Dreams the movie could not do that for me, as it blows its load at the earliest possible moment.

Without mincing any words, this film really misses the point on what makes an erotic thriller, erotic. Sure in one of its opening scenes there’s some pretty spicy things happening, but without context it’s missing the heartbeat of what makes me want to care as the movie progresses. After that it mostly forgets about that part of the story entirely. At no point did I ever feel the pressure of excitement or lust between our two lead characters. The relationship is the most important part of a movie like this and it was helplessly stiff.

Chastain is in the role of the rich socialite (whatever the means), and she fits! She commands the role that demands fashion and poise at every turn. I can’t look past that she is the best choice for a role like this, but teaming up with a real life ballet dancer was maybe not the best choice. The real life ballet dancer at hand, Isaac Hernandez, clearly has the talent to grace a stage, yet the silver screen didn’t suit him. He danced in and out of the picture like he didn’t want to be there. I understand that is a story choice because of his character’s purpose, I just wish it fit the vibes of everything else going on.

Dreams really took the focus off what could have made this a crowd pleasure and had it feeling corporate. I respect the decision to make this an immigrant story at the heart of things, I really do. If you’re going to do that, you should have connected the dots a little better. Both characters are after what they want, and neither feel like they had the brain power to get there. Of course the movie is set in San Francisco. I wanted to use that as an observation, but it’s mostly a negative as it doesn’t use the powers the city possesses. Lastly, Chastain is the worst dirty talker in cinema history and a better life for both of these people would be to choose different dreams.

I am sorry to say this did not have a lot of positives going for it. Was Jessica captivating as always? Absolutely. But, the story around her did not work with its intended purpose. Did I get to the point of what I wanted to say about this movie? I’m not really sure, but neither was this movie.


3/10