In Dreams (1999)

IN DREAMS (M). (Paramount/Dreamworks) Director: Neil Jordan Stars: Annette bening, Robert Downey jr, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Paul Guilfoyle, Margo Martindale, Dennis Boutsikaris.

The best films from director Neil Jordan are those set in his native Ireland (The Crying Game, Michael Collins, etc), while his big budget Hollywood entertainments (We're No Angels, etc) are bland and disappointing. His latest film In Dreams falls into this latter category. Co-written by Bruce Robinson (the cult classic Withnail And I, The Killing Fields, etc) this bleak psychological thriller is adapted from the book by Bari Wood (who wrote the novel upon which David Cronenberg's creepy Dead Ringers was based).

The tormented heroine of the piece is Claire Cooper (Annette Bening), who writes and illustrates fairy tale books for a living. She is having terrible dreams and nightmares, most of them featuring a young boy in a room filling with water. It seems she has established a psychic connection with serial nutcase psychopath Vivian (Robert Downey jr), and witnesses some particularly gruesome murders. The only trouble is that no-one, including the local cops and her frequently absent airline pilot husband (Aidan Quinn, in a thankless role), will believe her.

When her own daughter becomes the killer's latest victim, Claire has a nervous breakdown and is institutionalised. It becomes apparent to Claire that the killer is deliberately passing messages to her, and she feels compelled to escape from prison and track him down to end her traumatic experience. But her dreams increasingly become blurred with reality.

Jordan deftly establishes an unsettling atmosphere that is reminiscent of far better thrillers (Don't Look Now, etc), but In Dreams is ultimately disappointing. This sort of thing has been done before (e.g.; The Eyes Of Laura Mars, etc), but unfortunately the potentially fascinating scenario is never quite convincing.

Jordan borrows much of the film's dark and forbidding structure from the very fairy tales that Claire illustrates. Jordan also imbues the film with plenty of surreal imagery and rich symbolism, particularly focusing on the colour red and apples, but it all becomes too messy and obscure. However, ace cinematographer Darius Khondji (Seven, etc) creates some memorable and evocative images.

Bening's performance has a nicely hysterical and over wrought edge that suits the grim mood of the material. There is a nicely ironic touch to the casting of Downey, especially given his recent legal troubles and his confessions to the tabloids, but he gives a performance that is enigmatic rather than malevolent and genuinely unnerving. Regular Jordan collaborator Stephen Rea is wasted in a stereotypical role as the haunted looking and sympathetic psychiatrist who tries to puzzle out the true meaning of Claire's strange dreams.

In Dreams leaves a nasty aftertaste in the mouth, and will have audiences feeling vaguely unsatisfied.

**
greg king
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