In Dreams

I've liked pretty much all of Annette Bening's movies, although I did think that Neil Jordan's "In Dreams" should have come out as a little bit more given what all seems to have gone into it. As it is, I've seen lots of movies that portray people's dreams being more than just dreams and possibly showing something evil. This one isn't terrible, but I've seen this sort of thing so many times that there's nothing really new here. The movie's main strength is it's dreary, nearly Gothic setting.

So, it's worth seeing maybe once. The movie just might give you a different impression of Annette Bening, plus co-stars Aidan Quinn and Robert Downey Jr.

So just remember what Roy Orbison sang...

Chey from Texas brought out all the best criticisms to which I would like to add:

where was grief for this child? Quinn cared more about the dog! How did Downey survive twenty years while being totally psychotic? which, by the way, was a totally unbelievable portrayal. I have worked at Norristown State Hospital, and they are not like this.

Please give me the preservative for the apples which survived 20 years without rotting or attracting legions of insects and other vermin. I like and admire fantasy / horror as much as the next guy but even a neophyte screenwriter knows that you must be true to your screen universe. Since the couple lived in the real world, that part of the movie fell completely apart due to its inconsistencies and breaches of continuity.

How did the connection between Downey and Bening start? From her illustrations in the book? I dont think she drew them as a child which is when she said her dreams began, the ending was great just as the premise was but it failed on many levels. definite thumbs down.

Apples, Apples, Apples, that's what everyone keeps saying about this film. Perhaps it was a little overdone, but did anyone ever stop to think that the apples were representative of Clair's fear. The apple, the most innocent of all things, a fruit, as the repository of one's own nightmares and fears is creepy enough in itself. Many regard the scene where Clair is frantically throwing apples from a pile on the cupboard into the garburator of the sink as funny. I didn't I was well enough into the film, that the moment actually felt creepy. Jordan's vicious left/right pans of the camera reinforced her feeling of panic or anxiety around the apples.

To mention a couple of the other good points about "In Dreams", there were a couple of ingenious cross cutting scenes created. The first is a cross cut sequence involving Clair who is now in the mental hospital and her husband who goes to the motel that she dreamed about to find the dog. Another wonderful cross-cut sequence involves the escape from the institution. In her dreams, Clair follows Vivian (who had spent time in the exact same room as Clair) out of the institution, and there is much cross-cutting between the past and the present. Much suspense was built in the production of this scene. I don't want to give away any of the ending, but trust me, it scared me lifeless. This is definitely not Neil Jordan's best work, certainly "The Crying Game" is his masterpiece, but nevertheless, this is an original horror suspense film that delivers a punch!

The housewife Claire Cooper (Annette Bening) is married with the pilot Paul Cooper (Aidan Quinn) and their little daughter Rebecca (Katie Sagona) is their pride and joy. When a stranger kidnaps a girl, Claire dreams about the man but Detective Jack Kay (Paul Guilfoyle) ignores her concerns. But when Rebecca disappears during a school play, Claire learns that her visions were actually premonitions and she is connected to the killer through her dreams. She has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. Her psychologist Dr. Silverman (Stephen Rea) sends her to a mental institution and soon she finds that her husband will be the next victim of the serial-killer. Further, the serial-killer was interned in the same cell in the hospital where she is. Will Claire be able to save Paul?

"In Dreams" is a deceptive Neil Jordan's movie. The messy story is boring and Annette Bening is hysterical most of the time. There is no explanation for the connection between Claire Cooper and Vivian Thompson and the conclusion is terrible. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "A Premonição" ("The Premonition")

The stage curtains open ...

The first time I watched this movie, it was when it first came out in 1999. Back then, I wasn't too crazy about it, and had I written a review for it at that time, it would have been with a low star rating. However, for some reason, I decided to give it another go a few nights ago, over 20 years later, and see if my viewpoint had changed. And surprise, surprise! It actually did, as I will explain in more detail below.

But first, what it's about. Annette Bening plays the part of Claire, the wife of an airline pilot and the mother of a little girl, who is plagued by nightmarish dreams of an underwater city and the murders of young girls. When her own daughter goes missing and then turns up dead as well, it pushes Clair over the edge into a whirlwind of insanity as her dreams continue and intensify. When she begins to see events in her dreams before they happen, she believes she is telepathically linked to the killer himself which sends her down a very dark and very deadly path.

This movie moves at a very rapid pace. You never really get a chance to catch your breath, obviously in an attempt to carry us (as the viewers) down into the same feel and state of chaos as being experienced by Claire as the story develops. This movie had to have been nerve racking for Annette Bening to be in. Her emotions were pushed to the extreme, and she had to do a convincing job, which I felt she did. They kept our killer in the dark for most of the movie, only showing us what he looked like towards the end. And when we do see him finally, he is truly a very frightening individual.

I do recommend this one. I enjoyed it much more the 2nd time around. They did an effective job of throwing you into a very insane, confusing situation without ever losing control of it. It is very dark, with strong themes (ie: water, apples, dreams), and the colors used are pronounced and really add another dimension to the overall feel. I give "In Dreams" a very strong 7 stars out of 10.