Review of Dreamland
midlandsmovies • December 11, 2020
Dreamland (2020) Dir. Miles Joris-Peyrafitte
With a screenplay by Nicolaas Zwart, Dreamland is a new drama starring Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders) as Eugene Evans, a young man who stumbles upon Margot Robbie’s on-the-run criminal Allison Wells.
Set during the Great Depression, Eugene lives with his mother (Better Call Saul’s Kerry Condon) and father (Vikings’ Travis Fimmel) and his young sister on a rural farm. The family are struggling with their crops having been decimated by dry weather and the sandstorms of the Texas dust bowl.
With a well-realised sense of place and time, Dreamland sees Eugene frustrated at the poverty of not just his family but the community as a whole which is exacerbated when his best friend confesses that he and his family are off to find a better life in California.
But excitement soon enters Eugene’s world as, after word of a bank robbery in town, he subsequently discovers an injured woman in the family’s barn hiding from the authorities. And Robbie’s perpetrator, bloodied from gunshots, convinces Eugene to assist her in dressing her wounds and convincing him to provide sustenance and a hiding place.
Unsure if she’s manipulating the teen for her own ends or genuinely falling for his kind demeanour, Dreamland creates a space for their strange relationship to develop. And this ends up being the core, and the key, to the film.
Both actors bring believable performances and with her usual sultriness, Robbie is fantastic as the duplicitous damsel. Cole is her equal and is tormented by the frustrations of his first love affair and the fear of being duped into a trap.
Bonnie and Clyde is an obvious parallel to be drawn with its 30s-era couple of the run narrative, but there’s also a visual similarity with the more recent Lawless (2012) and its dusty prohibition intensity. Far less violent than the latter, the film however does captures powerful passions of the affair. It also contrasts the wide-open plains against the secretive hiding places of farm buildings, oppressive bedrooms and sleazy hotels.
An impressive single take sequence in a hotel bathroom is the film’s technical highlight and the two leads are incredibly watchable in their well-written roles. And kudos to Darby Camp as the young Phoebe Evans who looks up to her brother with tender love.
Although not spectacularly inventive, the film’s broad canvas does sometimes err towards dullness, the optimism of a better life – be it away from the family, community or the past itself gives Dreamland an underlying theme that satisfies throughout.
And in the end, the sparseness of the wilderness and the closeness of the intimate relationship are balanced well as we follow a couple escaping their personal nightmares in the hope of finding a land of idealistic dreams.
★★★½
Michael Sales
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Our resident local film critic @_jacob.holmes headed off beyond the region's boundaries to the BFI London Film Festival. In our latest Midlands on the Move feature, Jacob shares some helpful hints for first timers, as he provides a guide for local filmmakers and film fans as to what to expect when visiting events further afield... In 2025 I had the honour of attending the 69 th BFI London Film Festival for a week, I attending premieres for some of my most anticipated films of the year. And even grabbed a press pass too. This wasn’t my first film festival, but this was my first London Film Fest and to be brutally honest, in the build-up, I was nervous! Sadly, I found the BFI and Accreditation websites not very intuitive and quite confusing. So this this article hopes to give some peace of mind and let people know what they can expect when attending such UK festivals - both as a regular guest and as press. Tickets Getting regular tickets can be stressful, akin to a big concert. And in a way it's like the Hunger Games, a survival of the fittest type of vibe. First off, BFI advertise tickets go on sale at 10am in September, which is true but not wholly accurate. Instead, at 9am you head to the website and get put in a waiting room with a random allocated number for when the actual sale start at 10am. At that time it tells you where you are in the queue. If you get lucky, you could wait 15 minutes, but often the wait can be an hour plus. Finally when you can make a purchase, you are let in and can put all tickets into your basket. I have two years of experience with this queue! The first time, I failed completely and all movies I wanted to see were sold out. But this year I had a plan! The key to success is knowledge to how to play the game. Tip 1: For the best possible chances, subscribe to the BFI and become a member. The year membership was £35 at its cheapest. And if you're in the Midlands like I am, outside the festival a membership can be fairly useless unless you go to London often. But what this membership gives you is important. A week before general release there is a presale for BFI members. Not only is this a benefit, it also gives you a crucial second chance. By that I mean if things don't go your way the first time, you can try again in the general sale. And I had to do exactly this. When general admissions came out, I tried again for tickets for Wake Up Dead Man and got my ticket! Tip 2: Quantity. There's nothing against the rules saying you can’t enter the queue on multiple devices! I was placed very low down in the queue in my first year on one laptop, but this year I used my phone, PC, laptop, my friend's laptops AND my friends' devices! But it all paid off. Devices can take 2 hours or only 30 minutes. More Devices = Higher chance of getting tickets. Tip 3: Know the films you want to see beforehand. If you don’t know what films you want to see or when they screen you will be completely lost. Write a timetable - and furthermore, have back up plans. Sometimes you'll click on what you want and it will be sold out, but having a backup plan will be much easier overall. Tip 4: Even if you don’t get tickets, it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of second-hand ticket websites selling tickets at normal (or sometimes cheaper) prices. Websites like Twickets, social media accounts like @LFFstubs on X or the r/londonfilmfestival on Reddit will have second-hand tickets. In fact, I sold one of my tickets on Twickets and had no complaints either. Press passes As you can imagine, this process is very different for industry passes. The biggest issue is tickets go on sale in waves each day. Instead of one go, pass holders book their tickets day by day. Tickets go on sale at 8am two days before, usually taking place on the accreditation app or website. In some ways this is easier, but it's also a gigantic pain. Although it's MUCH easier to get a ticket, do have to wake up every single day to go onto a laggy website and book a few tickets. You may even have to book tickets in the cinema. Another issue can be if you plan to see both general and press screenings. One you book way in advance, but press screenings are booked during the fest. Ticket prices for public screenings vary, but the gala/premiere screenings are usually £30-£40. Whilst the press screenings are completely free, you just have to pay for the pass itself which is around £55.