“Living
on a trailer park in the middle
of the desert isn’t
easy — especially if
your mum’s
dead, your father is an
agoraphobic beer drinker, your best
friend is really ill and you’ve
been
offered a place at college but you don’t
think they’d
cope without you.
You forget your ambitions and stifle
your dreams —
even if your trailer park
is called Dreamland...” CARING, DEPENDABLE AUDREY (Agnes Bruckner: Haven, Murder By Numbers,
Blood and Chocolate) lives at the Dreamland trailer park, works at the local
shop and casually dates colleague Abraham (Brian Klugman).
Having long held an ambition of going to college and becoming a writer, the
selfless Audrey chooses instead to stay with the people she loves most and who
rely upon her — her needy best friend Calista (Kelli Garner: Lars And
The Real Girl, Thumbsucker, The Aviator), who dreams of being a beauty queen
but was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis two years before, and Audrey's demanding
agoraphobic, depressive, beer-drinking father Henry (John Corbett: Sex And
The City), who lives on his memories.
At night, Audrey indulges herself in the creation of the beautiful poetry and
prose that is her passion. She hides her frustrations and lives her life for
Henry and Calista; whiling away the long hot summer after her graduation with
her beautiful friend who imagines being married to a Brazilian football star
and finding crazy herbal remedies for MS.
But when the attractive, basketball-playing Mookie (Justin Long: Herbie Fully
Loaded, Die hard 4.0, Dodgeball) moves in to Dreamland with his father Herb
(Chris Mulkey) and soon-to-be stepmother Dreamer (Luce Reins), he encourages
Audrey's talents and she begins to find it impossible to continue to be the
dependable, selfless person that Henry and Calista so rely upon. And they both
have to find the strength to let her go.
Director Jason Matzner's debut feature Dreamland is an award-winning,
compelling and evocative coming-of-age drama that stars fresh up-and-coming
talents Agnes Bruckner and Kelli Garner — who reminds me rather of a young
Hayley Mills. Bruckner and Garner shine like the stars they promise to be.
Beautifully shot, capturing Dreamland's wide open spaces and azure skies, this
is a tender and deeply felt indie drama — a poignant and irresistible story
about people who have to face difficult times and with a message that sometimes
you have to let go before you can move on. And that sometimes you find love
in the most unexpected of places.
The film also features Gina Gershon as Mary and Olive Bureker as Aunt Sadie.
The beautiful, atmospheric music is by Anthony Marinelli; Director of Photography
is Jonathan Sela; Dreamland is written by Tom Willett and Directed by
Jason Matzner.
• Dreamland
is now available on DVD (release date 30 June, 2008), courtesy of DNC Entertainment.
Catalogue No: DNC1014 | RRP: £15.99 | Certificate 12 | Running Time: 87 minutes.
"Intoxicating, woozily romantic" — Variety
"Sexy" — Screen International
"Two sexy lead performances from emerging young stars Agnes Bruckner and Kelli
Garner" — Screen Daily
"Dreamland… a poignant and irresistible story about people who have to
face difficult times and with a message that sometimes you have to let go before
you can move on. And that sometimes you find love in the most unexpected of
places" — MotorBar
“Living
on a trailer park in the middle