Now, let's talk about westerns... (10 years later...) still not finished. Arggh... There's no way in hell you'd talk about Hollywood without mentioning the western genre; failure to do so should be one of a million ways to die in the west (pun intended). Talk about the gore, violence, the iconic boots, Cowboys, hats, the sunscape, the landscape, the good ol' accent, etc. I would relish the thought of going back in time to live it but spare me the violence (Thanks, I'm good).
This a review of Dreamland: This western film is directed by young director, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte. The screenplay/script is written by Nicolas Zwart. Never heard of them before? Yeah. That's because they are not popular and that could make you feel you'd be wasting your time watching this movie but it'd be a miss if you did that.
Dreamland is about a teen bounty hunter (Finn Cole) who is torn between helping or capturing a seductive fugitive bank robber (Margot Robbie) hiding in his small town during The Great Depression (The Great Depression according to history was a worldwide economic depression that lasted for 10 years). The seventeen year old Eugene has had a rough childhood, an absentee father and a avery uptight strict stepfather who was wonderfully portrayed by Travis Fimmel. Eugene dreams of helping his family in the midst of the holocaust-IC economy but one wonders how he was going to achieve this when he spends more time straying around and engrossing himself in fictional magazines. Luck however came his way when he sees a reward in a magazine for a bank robber in Margot Robbie's Allison Wells. I eventually smiled to myself when Eugene's 'luck' brought a wounded Allison Wells into his family's barn (somebody shout "PLOT!"). It turned out that this encounter gave us a beautiful, dusty and violent ride of a romantic 'couple on the run'; makes me remember Moonrise Kingdom (2012). The fun about the movie is that we get to see Eugene live his fantasies and how he processes these events is all laid out for you to see in this movie.
The acting was spot-on and impeccable; thanks to Margot Robbie's Allison Wells who brought her A-game to the film. "You can take the girl out of the class but you simply can't take the class out of the girl". It's like "bringing a gun to a knife fight" which is accurate considering the low budget of the film against the prowess of Robbie who also boasts of a long list of successful blockbusters. Robbie tried everything she could to "rise to the occasion" in every scene she was in even when the pacing and story seemed mediocre at one point. Travis Fimmel, "All Hail Ragnar" (could never stop calling him that) did good as George Evans (He's been busy being booked of late). Finn Cole is a star to watch out for even though his character struggled a little bit to keep up with Margot Robbie's Allison Wells.
Dreamland is a meticulously written romance that has the action you've come for. Clichéd? Definitely yes but it could be totally worth your while. Speaking of the music: The score/music was almost perfect and it was a diamond amongst rubies for Patrick Higgins and his crew.
The cast includes: Finn Cole (Eugene Evans), Margot Robbie (Allison Wells), Travis Fimmel (George Evans), Garrett Hedlund (Perry Montroy), Kerry Condon (Olivia Evans), Lola Kirke (Older Phoebe Evans/Narrator).
The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, 2019.
My rating: 7.0/10
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