Dreams
A semi-tractor trailer sits in the sizzling San Antonio sun, cries of help emanating from its metal interior. By the time its doors are opened, everyone's grown quiet. Fernando Rodríguez (Isaac Hernández, Lead Principal Dancer of the English National Ballet) jumps down and begins to walk, faster when he spots a diner in the distance, but he's told he cannot be there are gulping down a pitcher of water. Eventually he makes his way to San Francisco, letting himself into a modern, multi-story townhouse with a hidden key. When wealthy socialite Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain) returns home she professes to be happy to see him, but in reality she will be the obstacle to his "Dreams."
Laura's Review: B-
Mexican writer/director Michel Franco ("Memory") continues exposing the rarified worlds of the extremely rich and their impact on the common man, themes he explored with shock and awe tactics in "New Order" and a more dialed down character study in "Sundown." This time around he filters his viewpoint through the lens of immigration, but the resulting film is less effective than those prior two as its pace lags, its outcome is easily predictable and its ending somewhat muddled. But we are treated to some lovely dance, including Hernández auditioning for the San Francisco ballet with scenes from 'Swan Lake.'
Jennifer is the daughter of wealthy philanthropist and art collector Michael McCarthy (Marshall Bell, "Capote") and runs the McCarthy Foundation with her brother Jake (Rupert Friend, "Jurassic World: Rebirth") when she's not shopping for the luxe designer wardrobe (costume design by "Hustlers'" Mitchell Travers) she is always meticulously turned out in. She travels in a chauffeured black SUV and the private jet that whisks her to her pet project, the ballet school in Mexico City where she met her younger lover. He's no sooner in San Francisco than she takes him to a beachside love nest, but when she spies a business partner of her dad's checking in, she demands Fernando pack immediately. Realizing that he is being kept under wraps, Fernando leaves. Jennifer wings her way to Mexico, visiting with Fernando's parents (Eligio Meléndez and Mercedes Hernández of "New Order") who clearly have no use for her, mom telling dad 'She keeps treating him terribly - tell her to date someone her own age.' Considering her Mexican interests, Jennifer speaks no Spanish.
Jennifer will also hire a Private Investigator (Bobby August Jr.), but she'll end up finding Fernando on her own, the man dancing on a San Francisco street where he draws the attention of the San Francisco Ballet's Matthew (Wes Chapman), but refuses to speak to Jennifer, so she traces him through Matthew to the motel where he's gotten a job, later appearing in full evening regalia at the dive bar where he also works to leave a ticket for the ballet. Her campaign eventually works, but when Jake arrives unexpectedly at her townhouse one day and finds Fernando preparing a meal in her kitchen, word gets back to dad who finds the situation socially untenable. Just as he's making inroads with the local ballet, Fernando finds himself deported back to Mexico, just as Jennifer likes it. And that will not be the worst thing she does.
While the sex between Jennifer and Fernando is steamy, the two practically inhaling each other, Jessica Chastain has never been icier, a woman of privilege yet little substance, her frequent ballerina bun emphasizing her remove from the dance she champions with dad's money. It is a brave display of reprehensible behavior. Hernández is her very sympathetic counterpart, the dancer quietly staking his independence. Production designer Alfredo Wigueras emphasizes architectural detail, every space inviting interest.
Like the recent (and better) Columbian film, "A Poet," "Dreams" exposes the self interest of those indulging in artistic philanthropy.
Greenwich Entertainment releases "Dreams" in theaters on 2/27/26.
