Dreamscape

    I’d almost forgotten what a decent movie was like to watch. Not great, just decent. Solid cast, decent writing, well-constructed narrative with proper setup and payoff, a clear delineation of rules, and a satisfying ending. I almost feel bad, this movie couldn’t have kicked ‘Sleepwalkers’ in the nuts any harder. I’m sorry, I’m still fascinated by the idea that a group of otherwise professional people could’ve come together and thought that that would be a show that worked.

    I’d caught bits and pieces of ‘Dreamscape’ over the years so I knew it had the same rough premise as that show. What I didn’t know is that this movie is a tight 93 minute summation of everything that show could have ever hoped to do and did it thirteen years earlier and better. I could apparently also beat that show around the head and shoulders with ‘Paprika’ but I haven’t seen that one yet. I’ll leave that for an anime month.

    But as much as I’d like to continue grinding a heel into that show we’re looking at ‘Dreamscape’ today. Released in 1984 the movie was directed by Joseph Ruben, a moderately successful director of such movies as ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ and ‘The Good Son,’ and written by David Loughery, who also wrote, uh, ‘Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.’ It was scored by three time Academy Aware winner Maurice Jarre, the prolific composer who wrote the soundtracks to such diverse efforts as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Jacob’s Ladder.’ It stars Max von Sydow, Kate Capshaw, Christopher Plummer, and a young Dennis Quaid fresh off of the ‘The Right Stuff.’ Trivia alert: this is only the second movie to be released with a PG-13 rating after ‘Red Dawn.’ Released by 20^th Century Fox, it was a modest box office success and continues to be highly rated to this day.

    It seems I have accidentally watched a real movie. I’m not sure what to do about this.

    It opens with a very obvious, very stylized dream sequence of a woman running from a nuclear explosion and then being engulfed in flames. A man startles awake, yelling out, and it’s quickly established that this is the president and he’s been having frequent nightmares about a nuclear Armageddon. Already it’s clear this is going to be an optimistic movie as I’m sure in 1984 Reagan slept like a baby every night.

    We cut to an auditorium and get a sketch of the premise as Max von Sydow intones about psychic powers and Christopher Plummer demands that a candidate of the program they’re putting together be found. I should mention that the candidate is played by David Patrick Kelley and not to pigeonhole him as as actor but just by his presence in the film you know he’s the bad guy.

    Cut to a race track where a smirking Dennis Quaid is watching his horse winning the race. He smarms it up a bit at the payoff counter then notices some heavies are following him. This quickly escalates into a full-on chase through the backrooms of the racetrack as they’re trying to muscle in on his winnings as he seems to have a knack for picking horses. It’s just enough to clue us in that he has psychic powers as well. Although he clearly does want to get away he’s not taking it altogether seriously and we get our first glimpse of the real charm that Quaid brings to the role as he makes his awkward exit out through the jockey room. He hops in a cab and waves as he drives past his assailants. This all will actually come up again in the movie. I’m not used to all this solid setup and payoff. Quaid goes home and tootles on a saxophone as he listens to a series of voicemails from the clearly many women in his life.

How could you punch that face?

    The next day he’s approached on the sidewalk by a couple of guys with an ‘opportunity.’ Spotting his assailants from the other day heading their way he hops in the car and lets them drive him away. He tries to get them to pull over when they’re safely away but they apologetically threaten him and say they’ve been ordered to bring him in. At this Quaid tenses and loses his smarm as we start to see him react like a real person, asking bluntly if he’s in danger. He doesn’t seem reassured when they say no.

    They take him to a university and walk him past security. There’s a nice moment when the security guard asks for his signature to buzz him in and he angrily states he’s not signing anything. He’s brought to a waiting room, takes a moment to look around then sighs, picks up a marker, and writes on the obviously one-way glass to get on with it. Kate Capshaw then enters the room and introduces herself. She starts him on a tour of the facility, explaining they’re doing research on sleep. Before she gets too deep into it she’s called away by a nurse. Quaid takes a solid beat, smoothly turns on his heels, and just starts walking towards the exit. He passes a now-unmanned security door they’d passed earlier and, curiosity clearly winning out, he ducks inside. He sees a control room overlooking an observation room with a couple of chairs covered in wires, buttons and blinking lights all around him. Before he can do much more than look he hears Max van Sydow from behind him saying he’s a bit late. He smiles and turns, greeting what is apparently an old friend. Turns out Sydow was running a program years before that Quaid skipped out on. Sydow briefly chastises Quaid for squandering his psychic powers then they decide to grab a beer.

That's how I'd look if I ever talked to Max von Sydow.

    Over the beer Sydow explains the program and though clearly intrigued Quaid makes it very clear he wants nothing to do with it. Sydow suggests he sleeps on it. During the night Quaid gets some kind of psychic alert and sneaks out of the room and back into the control room to see another psychic connecting with a small kid obviously having nightmares. He watches, concerned, as it goes badly wrong and the psychic’s mind is destroyed. The next day he flatly turns down Sydow’s offer. Sydow is disappointed and says it’s too bad, he was going to help him with all of the problems he would no doubt have when the IRS start looking into his racetrack winnings. Quaid angrily vows to never, ever, ever – comedy cut to Quaid with electrodes going glumly through tests.

    I’m going to cut off the summary from there because I genuinely think this is a good enough move you should really see it for yourself. The important things that the beginning of the movie establishes is that psychic powers are real, Quaid is a good if underachieving guy, that dreams are visually and noticeably distinct from real life, and that going into other peoples’ dreams can be dangerous.

    Over the course of the movie it manages to avoid most of the criticisms of dreams I outlined before. The dreams are established set pieces with clear goals and definite ends and beginning and are part of a stated goal they’re trying to achieve. It’s never in question whether or not what we’re watching is a dream. The symbolism in the dreams is very clear and directly comes from the mind of the person doing the dreaming. In fact we really only see the dreams of four different people over the course of the movie, one of which is between Quaid and Capshaw and very much violates consent in a way that the movie shrugs off but would absolutely not be portrayed that way now.

I must say I agree, Ms. Capshaw.

    As I said it’s not a great movie but it is solid and enjoyable. Quaid is as charming as he’s ever been and George Wendt has a small role that makes me wish he would’ve taken more dramatic parts. It was a breath of fresh air after ‘Sleepwalkers’ that reinforced my belief that you can make good on just about any premise if you handle it correctly. Suck it, David S. Goyer (shakes fist).