Sweet Dreams

I've seen this film at The Sundance Film Festival and I couldn't get it out of my head for two weeks. A haunting story with no dialog, only music, sound, emotion, light. The cake eating scene was a most vivid description of all temptation and sin. For me it was the most painful sequence. The beauty of this work is with certainty breathtaking, simplistic yet shows an emotional labyrinth. The intimacy and lack there of between father and son captured in this work is riveting. Great work! Great film-making! Haunting, dramatic, a great piece of film. The director effectively captured one of the worst tragedies of human kind. I was left speechless for at least 5 minutes after the film. BRAVO! Wish to see more of this director's work.

Great piece of work, black and white sepia with color dream sequences, not one single word said by the main character, nevertheless powerful acting. I've seen this short film two times (at Sundance film festival and at Palm Springs film festival), very emotional and powerful, images stays with you for several days after watching it. That's classic cinema at its best. Everyone can associate with this little boy eating the cake and then taking a beating, then running away from home, then coming back to be with his parents for Christmas. But when he comes back home, he gets a different kind of Christmas present. I would definitely recommend it to everyone. Eight stars out of ten. Hope to see more from this talented filmmaker.

September the 23rd, attending The Pixie Awards ceremony in Hollywood, I've seen a short clip from "Sweet Dreams" (winner in the "best actor" category). Then I watched the whole film on-line. And I cried. Then I watched it again. And cried again. It is a marvelous piece of work. Well done and professional, but the most important is the emotions that this film evoke. The actor doesn't say one single word during the whole film, yet the acting is so powerful. I was amazed by the quality, maturity of the filmmakers, the acting... everything. Tragic yet poetic film. Great great work. The best film (of this genre) that I've watched on the Internet.

"Sweet Dreams" is very realistically shot. Aesthetics of documentary has found its emotional and plastic realization in artistic structure of the film. And this structure does not exist by itself, but in accordance with overall dramaturgic idea. Presentation of particularities and details of life and environment is intended to follow one higher goal, that is to show heroes of the movie in an extreme situation of their tragedy. Moreover, the whole film goes without dialogs. It is based on sounds, noises and music. And they are sufficient because words are not needed. It is like looking at a picture of a good painter and listening real music. We find ourselves in the midst of images that excite us and share feelings with us. "Sweet Dreams" is watched in one breath, while minor dramaturgic mistakes don't diminish merits of the film as a whole. Sergei Davidoff, as director managed to achieve the most important thing – to keep the audience strained, make them think and share feelings with heroes of the movie

Excellent film! I've seen it at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. There were many more films that I've watched during my stay at the festival but the images of this film just stuck with me for a long time after the festival's end. Shot in black and white and developed probably in color cause the images came out somehow sepia-brown. No dialog whatsoever, very intense. It reminded me of the best European cinema before the digital age. Such an emotional labyrinth! I truly believe this film deserves an Oscar and I'm surprised that it hasn't been nominated. A true gem of film-making. The boy is excellent, cinematography is superb and the director did an amazing job. 10 out of 10!!!