Name: Retro Film Review: In Dreams (1999)
Item: In Dreams
Rating: 30
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

Neil Jordan is just one of many talented non-American film-makers who didn't adapt to Hollywood style of film-making very well. In his case, relatively bad quality of his Hollywood films seems to be related to their setting and genre. As long as he strayed from contemporary themes and plots that resembled real life, Jordan's films left something to be desired. One of such examples was 1999 horror film In Dreams.

Protagonist of the film is Claire Cooper (played by Annette Benning), children's book illustrator from Massachusetts. Recently she has been tormented by nightmares about little girls being snatched by serial killer. When her own daughter becomes victim of murder, she is convinced that she possesses telepathic link with murderer. Jack Kay (played by Paul Guilfoyle), detective in charge of the case, is sceptical and when Claire becomes prone to psychotic breaks, even the kind-hearted psychiatrist Dr. Silverman (played by Stephen Rea) doesn't have any other choice but to have her committed to mental institution. There the torture continues and Claire receives visions about her husband Paul (played by Aidan Quinn) as the killer's next target. Slowly it is revealed that the institution is the same one to which the killer used to be committed many years ago. Claire decides to escape and use the telepathic link in order to finally face her tormentor.

Many great talents and creative resources were invested in this film. Darius Khondji's first class cinematography created very effective atmosphere and same can be said for Eliot Goldenthal's music score. The cast is made of experienced and talented actors like Benning, Rea, Quinn and Robert Downey Jr. Jordan directed some scenes with great skill and in the beginning the viewers may think of In Dreams as a stylish and effective genre film. Unfortunately, after a while flaws in the script by Jordan and Bruce Robinson reveal themselves. Once the mystery is revealed, In Dreams is reduced to series of cheap cliches (killer as a victim of difficult childhood and unresolved gender issues) and implausiblities. By the time Jordan tries to save the impression with unconventional ending, most viewers would wake up to the reality of another bad film being made by talented people.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on October 19th 2004)