| B- | Fantastic Fest 2024 |
Wow, this was a tough one.
Nacho Vigalondo has written and directed a couple of my favorite movies (Timecrimes, Colossal), so my expectations were high for this one. I was disappointed at first, and have had to convince myself that I’m the problem not the movie.
The hook to the story is that a man mourning the death of his girlfriend is given pills that allow him to “lucid dream,” and he does so to keep “returning” to his girlfriend to both relive and extend their relationship.
I generally can’t stand movies that happen in dreams because they often have no consequences in the character’s reality (A Nightmare on Elm Street notwithstanding). But since the main character is lucid dreaming he is consciously making real decisions, even if they are in a fantasy world. Despite that, I had a hard time getting over the fact that these were all dreams, so what were the real-world consequences? I originally graded this movie C and wrote a whole analysis as to why it was terrible. But through that exercise decided that though the ending did not tie directly back to reality, he was making active decisions and the consequences were there for us to see. (I admit to having problems with subtlety…)
Emotionally, I think the movie was about addiction and obsession. And how grief can feed into those. And to some extent what people will do with whatever power they have. Most of it was very interesting, and the acting was quite good. I just personally struggled with the ending.
