Come True

Canadian movie, it opens with visions of blurred, shadowy male figures with glowing eyes. We sense it is a dream then we see a teenage girl waking up in a sleeping bag on the bottom part of a slide in a town park. Then later by chance she sees an ad on a bulletin board for volunteers for a sleep study. She hasn't been sleeping well, has recurring nightmares, and frequently falls asleep in class. So she snaps at the chance, also because it will pay her.

So the movie goes on and I found it very interesting. There is a 30-odd year old movie called "Jacob's Ladder" and of that movie I wrote "everything in the film depicts dreams, hallucinations, and memories during those few minutes before death, as he is fighting for his life." That was my interpretation and there are things in this movie that remind me of that.

The big reveal, the "twist", comes at the very end of the movie with a message on her cell phone. Intellectually I know what happened during the movie but I can't put it all together in a coherent summary. I don't fully grasp what the filmmaker was depicting. There are certain symbols, like the two times 7:11 and 10:01 which apparently mean something to those who study spiritualism but escape me.

Am I glad I spent the time watching it? Yes, I am, even though I can't fully explain what the movie is saying. Would I watch it again? Probably not. The main actress is interesting, she plays an 18-yr-old (needed for the sex scene) and was probably 20 during filming, but with her short blond hair and youthful features looked almost like my 12-yr-old blond headed grandson. I don't say that in any negative way, I found her to be very appropriate for the role and her acting was very effective.

On DVD from my public library, my wife skipped, not her kind of movie.

Wow can I understand the mixed reviews after watching this film. I come down on the thumbs up side, partly because of the audaciousness of the script and the pacing, and the clever and well managed homages and allusions to 80s science fiction cinema.

Regarding the pacing, one of the most common criticisms of this movie appears to be that it is "slow" or "boring." In my viewing experience it is deliberately paced, which is not the same thing, and part of what makes it a mesmerizing, dreamlike experience. The somber, atmospheric score adds to this effect. Come True is a curtain blowing in the nightime breeze, in slow motion.

The other main criticism of Come True (a cool title for this particular movie) is how it ends - what is revealed behind the curtain of dreams. The conclusion is unexpected, to say the least, but ultimately, again, I liked it for the sheer audaciousness of it.

There are numerous allusions to classic sci-fi movies of the 1980s. I think Come True has about as much eye symbolism as Blade Runner. In one scene there's a poster of Schwarzenegger from the first Terminator movie, in his famous sunglasses, and one of the secondary characters wears gigantic spectacles clearly reminiscent of Tyrell's in Blade Runner. There is another dramatic homage to the Blade Runner eye symbolism, too, later in the film, but I don't want to give anything away. The plot consciously incorporates aspects of Dreamscape and Brainstorm as well.

All of that is especially interesting if you're a fan of '80s science fiction, but it also somehow heightens the dreamlike quality of Come True. Movies are inherently dreamlike, and almost literally like watching someone else's lucid dreams. It's therefore fitting that this film's tapestry of subconscious and unconscious imagery should be dyed in cinematic references.

As I'm writing this review I'm realizing that, despite its flaws - including what I feel is an unnecessary and eye rolling plot development exactly 2/3 of the way through - I like this movie quite a bit. I don't usually write such long reviews, so that's a reflection of how compelling I found the experience.

Come True is worth a watch. I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending but that's just my opinion. The story itself is engaging to watch. The atmospheric soundtrack brings a mysterious ambiance that keeps you focussed on the story. The sound was the best part of this movie. The acting wasn't bad even though not everybody were perfect. It's not really a movie I would recommend but it's good enough if you have nothing else to do and like mysteries with a pinch of sci-fi.

Come True is an interesting one. The title has multiple meanings, the ending message also seems to have them.

Yet I still wanted it to be so much better. All the visual substance I enjoyed quite a lot. The soundtrack was strangely recognizable but still good. The production design was very reminiscent of Posessor (2020), as well as some of the lighting choices were. Also, the CGI nightmare cut-ins were creative, they felt inspired by some dark art themes, some videogame inspirations even, like Dark Souls and especially Darkwood, or maybe something else I'm not aware of.

Story-wise it is somewhat messy, there is a justification for this, but sometimes it feels really disconnected. The twist felt surprising but in a weaker way. At some point, it becomes clear that they are building up to something they cannot deliver cause they literally have like 2-3 long segments of build-ups that lead to nothing. The problem is that the type of story that they are using requires vague hints or better understandable symbolism. I've seen a couple of similar films but I don't want to name them to avoid spoilers. The way they did it just doesn't connect. Also, the idea of merging the real world with the subconscious nightmare world was awesome, but they still messed it up with that awkward twist.

There isn't much in terms of characters or character development. Some of the dialogue is interesting, but as I've said the characters do not drive the story, they could've been doing anything else or not doing anything at all, the ending would still be the same. This concept is similar to the Evil Within game series, actually.

I really hope that I've just missed the bigger picture (and possible hints) and the film is better than I understood it, but when I re-think what I just saw, I just can't find more good stuff to endorse. Worth a watch.

This movie has several things going for it, but ultimately disappoints. The central idea is a good one, and the lead actor gives a strong performance. She's likely to become more well known soon. The cinematography is strong, and the score is good, as is the direction, which owes quite a bit to Kubrick. Where the movie fails is in the writing, and to a lesser extent in the performances of the supporting cast. The dialogue is sometimes trite, and the plot is thin with holes. The end is both predictable and yet somehow even more disappointing than one expects. I don't mean to be harsh; the movie is worth a look. Just be prepared to be let down a bit by it all, in the end.