Directed By Bill Pohlad

Starring – Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins

The Plot – The true story of love and redemption, is about what happened to singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson (Affleck) and his family when the album he and his brother (Goggins) recorded as teens was rediscovered after thirty years of obscurity and was suddenly hailed by music critics as a lost masterpiece. While the album’s rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also brings long-buried emotions as Donnie, his wife Nancy (Deschanel), brother Joe, and father Don Sr (Beau Bridges). come to terms with the past and their newly found fame.

Rated PG for adult language and thematic elements

(2) Dreamin’ Wild | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 4 – YouTube

POSITIVES

As to where contemporary music biopics rest on the laurels of a telegraphed structure and Wikipedia level of insight, “Dreamin Wild” is a refreshingly psychological delve into the Emerson Brothers, with no shortage of originality in storytelling or direction to lend to the cause. Instead of an origins story for the musician at the forefront of the narrative, Bill Pohlad instead crafts a scintillating slowburn of a dual narrative between two respective timelines (Past and present) that eventually converge into one another, with razor sharp transitions in editing that visually convey this collision. For a majority of the film, the story is set in the latter, after temporary fame has left the building for this one prosperously dynamic duo, instilling evidence in lingering facial registries and lukewarm interactions between family members that articulate something dramatic must’ve rocked this one ambitious foundation. So the pieces are there almost immediately during our initial introductions to these characters, but we don’t quite know how they fit till later, and it’s that curiousity that Pohlad crafts so delicately that keeps us glued throughout a 105 minute run time and pacing that isn’t always ripe with the kind of urgency that mainstream audiences expect. In addition to this, Pohlad and his corresponding production instill a hypnotically introspective element in imagery that proves he can muster as much stimulating style to the thematic substance displayed continuously throughout. If you told me this was a Jean-Marc Vallet film, before the acclaimed director passed away, I would’ve believed you, as Pohlad and cinematographer Arnaud Potier seamlessly inflict the same kind of intimacy among entrancing imagery that Vallet made a career of, matching the beauty of fish-eye lens landscaping photography with three-dimensional meaning in color schemes of lighting during fantasy sequences that each represent something darkly depraved towards Donnie’s rocky relationship with fame and music. This supplants visual meaning to match the many themes about perfectionism and fame displacement that surround our flawed protagonist, all the while initiating a one-of-a-kind approach for the film’s ambition that seamlessly separates it from the pack of immitators. On top of this, one of the very best ensemble dramas this year conjure no shortage of scene-stealing depth to their respective turns, but primarily Affleck and Goggins, whom each materialize the heart and soul of the movie’s bittersweet family drama with heft so palpable that their impacts can be felt long after they weave in and out of the front of the camera. For Affleck, it’s the chance once more to display the kind of emotional grit and tenderness that make him feel like he’s casually walking on a bed of nails, with Casey’s candid composure evidently holding in an atomic explosion that will level everyone in his wake, but for Goggins, it’s the same kind of transformative essence in approach that easily allows us to see him as the character over the actor portraying him, With Walton’s simmering sincerity adding a gentle stoicism that makes him easy to invest in. Throw in Chris Messina, Beau Bridges and a duo of dazzling youths in Noah Jupe and Jack Dylan Grazer, and you’re able to keep the momentum flowing through any of the respective timelines that may be zeroing in on the same topics, but from entirely different perspectives that play into the ages of each arc.

NEGATIVES

Though “Dreamin Wild” is full of appealing qualities that help to transcend the notion that this will be another uninspired delve into the musician of the week, it’s not without compromising decisions in its creative process, which can sometimes inflict frustrating explorations of arcs that don’t receive the rightful amount of time that they deserve. This is especially prominent with Deschanel’s involvement, which not only wastes Zooey’s opportunity to bring her own kind of ethos to the character, but also introduces and undercuts her arc without any exploration what so ever. Her character isn’t the only one who is saddled with this unfortunate reality, as at least two other arcs involving women (Oddly enough) are introduced, but then never followed through upon, it’s just that Zooey’s is easily the most disappointing because her character is such an integral aspect of Donnie’s life post-fame, and while the film is wise enough to bring up her own temporary jealousies in his reuniting with his brother, it isn’t deep enough to make the most of those chances to externally conjure her internal insecurities. The same can even be said for Donnie, who is essentially a ticking timebomb throughout the film, but with very little emphasis in the merging of pieces from the past that don’t properly fit towards illustrating the person we see before us. Beyond this, as previously mentioned, the film is a slow burn drama, but one that unfortunately is felt most prominent in the opening act, where development feels the most strained in those initial engagements with these characters. Because the script keeps its reveals close to the heart with regards to the past holding relevance to the current, it means those first few steps lie in audience hands to put things together, which can feel a bit disorienting initially, especially when the film’s darker moments materialize with little to no relevance of the events and exposition that we’ve already experienced. It did eventually pick up, with my curiosity perking as soon as the film’s half hour mark, but I see the first act of the film unfortunately being make or break for a lot of people who lack the patience to commit to something a bit more challenging than we would expect in a music biopic. Finally, a bit of a personal critique is in the music of the Emerson’s itself, which just wasn’t the kind that I find appealing throughout a nearly two hour duration. As someone who prides themselves with an eclectic taste in music, I found nothing musically engaging or lyrically subversive in what Donnie conjures as a songwriter, nor do I feel the four tracks chosen for the film are enough to give newfound fans a complete picture into what the group are capable of, with many of the lyrics between tracks repeating the one-dimensional direction of the group’s creative focus.

OVERALL
“Dreamin’ Wild” isn’t a perfect pitch, but it is a vast improvement from a majority of contemporary music biopics that feel like they’re churned out weekly by this point. With dramatically gravitational performances from a top-tier ensemble, artistic merit behind every luminating sequence, and a thematic and structural approach that are anything but conventional, the film is able to exceed expectations, with a responsibly honest take from Pohlad that proves not every dream comes to fruition.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-