"Hard on the heels of The Substance comes another film about a dodgy Los Angeles experimental clinic and showbiz obsession only this medical outfit, Somnium, is a shonky mind-fixing operation a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Wannabe actor Gemma (Chloe Levine) lands a sleep-sitting job at the firm, watching over patients in pods who are hoping to improve their lives by having helpful dreams injected into their subconsciouses."
"Appealing though its crisp sci-fi premise makes it, Racheal Cain's debut feature nonetheless feels as if it has been directly imprinted with far too many secondhand pop-cultural memories: some decaying Eternal Sunshine relationship detritus here, a mysterious producer svengali (Johnathon Schaech) and a transformative audition-room scene straight from Mulholland Drive over there. Even one of the key performances feels derivative: Will Peltz as Noah, Gemma's creepy, aviator-specs colleague, xeroxes Cillian Murphy's supercilious distaste."
"The Hollywood and Somnium plotlines are finally forced into a room together, as Noah lures Gemma into a therapy pod for reasons as fathomable as the troglodyte lurker she glimpses everywhere. But even her mind seems intent on selling her character short: humiliation-by-chatshow feels like a horribly off-the-peg fantasy (the 2020 film Come True is far more memorable and flamboyant as far as low-budget dreamscapes go)."
Somnium follows Gemma, a wannabe actor who accepts a sleep-sitting job at Somnium, a Los Angeles clinic that injects helpful dreams into patients' subconsciouses. Gemma watches patients in pods while navigating flashbacks to an idyllic relationship she left in Georgia. The film uses a crisp sci-fi premise but recycles recognizable pop-cultural elements, including echoes of Eternal Sunshine and Mulholland Drive, and a producer svengali figure. A colleague, Noah, plays a menacing role that recalls other performances. The plotlines of Hollywood ambition and the dream clinic collide without clear purpose, while Chloe Levine conveys Gemma's peppy desperation amid uneven direction.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]