Wikipedia article
'Dreamland' is a Canadian fantasy drama-thriller film, directed by Bruce McDonald and released in 2019.[Alex Rose, [https://cultmtl.com/2020/05/bruce-mcdonald-dreamland-is-a-totally-gonzo-film-stephen-mchattie-henry-rollins-juliette-lewis-tomas-lemarquis-review/ "Bruce McDonalds totally gonzo new movie Dreamland needs to be seen"]. 'Cult MTL', May 29, 2020.] The film stars Stephen McHattie in a dual role as The Maestro, a jazz musician who has been hired by the Countess (Juliette Lewis) to play at the wedding of her vampire brother (Tmas Lemarquis), and Johnny Deadeyes, a hitman who has been hired by crime boss Hercules (Henry Rollins) to kill the musician.[Pat Mullen, [https://thatshelf.com/dreamland-review-wtf-bruce/ "Dreamland Review: WTF Bruce?"]. 'That Shelf', May 30, 2020.]
The film has been described as a "spinoff" of McDonald's 2008 film 'Pontypool', in that it jumps off from the post-credits scene in 'Pontypool' in which McHattie and Lisa Houle were depicted in period garb speaking a foreign language.
The film premiered at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2019,[Joseph Perry, [https://diaboliquemagazine.com/brussels-ifff-review-doppelgangers-vampires-and-killer-kids-inhabit-bruce-mcdonalds-dreamland/ "Brussels IFFF Review: Doppelgngers, Vampires, and Killer Kids Inhabit Bruce McDonalds Dreamland"]. 'Diabolique Magazine', May 6, 2019.] and was screened at various film festivals before going into commercial release in 2020.[
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Production
The film was shot in Belgium and Luxembourg.[Todd Gilchrist, [https://variety.com/2020/artisans/production/dreamland-director-bruce-mcdonald-design-team-1234625809/ "Dreamland Director Bruce McDonald on How His Design Team Created a Key Sequence"]. 'Variety', June 5, 2020.] Its score was composed principally by Jonathan Goldsmith, although it also includes a jazz-based arrangement of Eurythmics' 1999 single "I Saved the World Today".[[https://beatroutemedia.com/dreamland-bruce-mcdonald/ "Vampires & Jazz: In Conversation With Dreamland Director Bruce McDonald"]. 'BeatRoute', June 2020.]
Although not named within the film, the character of the jazz musician was loosely based on Chet Baker.[Brad Wheeler, "With his strangely dark drama Dreamland, Bruce McDonald wakes up the weirdos: Midnight meets madness in a surrealist exercise in existentialism and deft satire". 'The Globe and Mail', May 29, 2020.]
Critical response
Alex Rose of 'Cult MTL' wrote that "Though it would be simple to just call 'Dreamland' second-rate Lynch and leave it at that, theres both more going on here and less lofty ideals than one might expect. Where a lot of these films (recent examples off the top of my head include 'Terminal', 'Passion Play', 'Hotel Artemis' and 'Mute') fail is in their absolute lack of a sense of humour; even the ones that are would-be black comedies tend to fall completely up their own assholes in a smug acceptance of irony as the end-all be-all. 'Dreamland', to its complete and utter benefit, is a film that both wallows in grotesque clichs and seeks to upend them."[
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For 'That Shelf', Pat Mullen opined that "Theres some promise to the ludicrously violent doppelgnger schadenfreude between the McHatties. However, the all-over-the-map screenplay veers in too many directions. Dreamland evokes the hazy fever of a midnight madness flick. It flows in and out of scenes like a woozy couch potato channel-surfing at 2 AM...'Dreamland' often feels weird simply for the sake of being weird. One can only imagine which drugs had higher potency: the ones that fuelled the screenplay or the ones McDonald downed before reading it."[
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Chris Knight of Postmedia wrote that "It's the kind of film that would have killed at the Toronto festival's Midnight Madness program, and it may have a harder time finding its audience in the scattered realm of VOD. But its boozy, Chet-Baker-meets-Eurythmics vibe (just wait for The Maestro's closing number) makes it a late-night trip worth taking."[Chris Knight, "Vampy vampires; Dreamland follows its own set of rules but it's a voyage well worth taking". 'Saskatoon Star-Phoenix', June 1, 2020.]
References
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