Dreamland: Reviewed in Screen Daily, 21 March 2006 Reviewed by Patrick Z McGavin The debut feature from video director and fine artist Jason Matzner, Dreamland limns the emotional frustrations and personal consequence of emerging female sexuality, tracking love, heartbreak and self-discovery among a trinity of damaged souls in the New Mexico desert. The movie is tender and visually confident, although the script by Tom Willett, a survey of pop culture ephemera and youthful poetry, underlines its ideas too strenuously, relying on stylised soliloquies and voiceover instead of observation, dramatic revelation and personal interaction. But Dreamland is redeemed by two sexy, marvellously textured lead performances from emerging young stars Agnes Bruckner and Kelli Garner. Premiering at Sundance in the Spectrum sidebar, the movie is thematically and tonally similar to two other recent Sundance titles: Blue Car, which made Bruckner's reputation, and Campbell Scott's Off The Map. Dreamland's commercial potential suggests it should play to similar levels: if Bruckner, Garner and Justin Long have little international traction, their developing US profiles should pay dividends, particularly in home video and cable markets. The ironic title refers to a desert tract community outside Albuquerque marked by a cluster of trailer park homes. "I'm 18 years old, and all I want to do is surrender," bright, self-possessive Audrey (Bruckner) confesses to her best friend, the fragile, dreamy Calista (Garner). Audrey has just completed high school, though she has delayed a decision about college. She stores her college acceptance letters in a hat box, sacrificing her dreams and ambition to care for her emotionally withdrawn father (Corbett), who remains in mourning over the death of Audrey's mother. She also provides emotional solace for Calista, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The girls' friendship is altered by the arrival of Mookie (Long), a handsome, confident kid and talented college basketball prospect. Though she is haphazardly involved sexually with a friend (Klugman) from work, Audrey facilitates a developing relationship between Mookie and Calista. But the swooning, carnal intimacy between the lovers unsettles Audrey and her subsequent declaration of attraction toward Mookie fractures the relationship between the two girls. Bruckner is a marvellously assured performer who confidently evokes the complications and contradictions of young female consciousness. She overcomes some of the unnecessary contrapuntal devices, such as the use of her poetry, delivered in voiceover, that makes everything too explicit. She is vulnerable and moving without ever becoming sentimental or crude. But the revelation is Garner (The Aviator, Thumbsucker), who demonstrates a deeper range and emotional complexity than previously allowed of her. She uses her body to strong effect, suggesting a woman continuously caught between naivety and cunning, imbuing the part not with a flagrant sexuality while capturing a quiet desperation and sadness. Dreamland is probably too incident packed in the final third, marring the more honest and open exchanges between the female leads. The work of cinematographer Jonathan Sela is also worth mention through his sharp use of natural, ambient light and the topography of the desert landscape yields some sharp, memorable images.