I saw "Mean Dreams" at Cannes as it was part of the Director's Fortnight. I can't really say I very much liked it. Most of it felt cliched and inauthentic. What did stand out was first-time Filmmaker Nathan Morlando's visual style which was very much influenced by, who else, Terrence Malick. Malick is really becoming a go-to name these days for many young filmmakers. I guess him coming back from retirement in 1998 for "The Thin Red Line" was something of a blessing for all of us as it really added his important and integral name back to the forefront of cinema. There have been cheap Malick ripoffs since then and, at times, "Mean Dreams" does feel like that. It's a teenagers on-the-run film that recalls Malick's "Badlands," but has none of the verve or audacity of that 1973 masterpiece. In the film Casey (Sophie Nelisse) and Jonas (Josh Wiggins), both part of separate broken homes, decide to make a run for it. Where are they going? They're not too sure, neither is director Morlando [C]
Underwhelming Cannes entry "Mean Dreams" gets a trailer
I saw "Mean Dreams" at Cannes as it was part of the Director's Fortnight. I can't really say I very much liked it. Most of it felt cliched and inauthentic. What did stand out was first-time Filmmaker Nathan Morlando's visual style which was very much influenced by, who else, Terrence Malick. Malick is really becoming a go-to name these days for many young filmmakers. I guess him coming back from retirement in 1998 for "The Thin Red Line" was something of a blessing for all of us as it really added his important and integral name back to the forefront of cinema. There have been cheap Malick ripoffs since then and, at times, "Mean Dreams" does feel like that. It's a teenagers on-the-run film that recalls Malick's "Badlands," but has none of the verve or audacity of that 1973 masterpiece. In the film Casey (Sophie Nelisse) and Jonas (Josh Wiggins), both part of separate broken homes, decide to make a run for it. Where are they going? They're not too sure, neither is director Morlando [C]