Review: Dreams at Genre Gems
Synopsis
Romance blossoms between a wealthy socialite and a Mexican ballet dancer, intertwining their contrasting lives and cultures.
Writer/Director Michel Franco’s story centers around Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young ballet dancer from Mexico and his lover, Jennifer (Jessica Chastain), a socialite and philanthropist. Fernando lives in Mexico and dreams of international recognition and a life in the US. Jessica lives a carefully-curated life in San Francisco where she runs her family’s arts foundation. Their paths cross because the foundation sponsors Mexican dancers who train to achieve success in their own country. An obsessed and infatuated Fernando risks his life to cross the border to the US, so he can be with Jessica. He arrives at her home in San Francisco, instantly disrupting her life.
The lop-sided power dynamic between these two is at times confrontational, prescient, beautiful, and thought-provoking. Jessica isn’t as good-natured as she appears. In fact, it turns out that the entire family is hypocritical in their philanthropy, and this challenges the audience to think about the ethics behind some of the activism we see covered widely in the news today. Current events in the US related to mass deportations also adds eerie context to the events in the film.
Guadalajara-born Hernández experienced a parallel trajectory to his character Franco, becoming the first Mexican principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre in 2025. He has a chance to show his exceptional ballet skills in the film, but his character’s connection with Chastain’s character Jennifer didn’t seem believable. His performance seemed very neutral at times, far from a someone who would risk crossing a border illegally to chase both his dream to dance, and his passion for his lover. This also made his character even less believable when the power dynamic switches in the last act. This is one of Hernández’ first on-screen acting roles, and I feel that being paired up with a veteran actor like Chastain accentuates the difference.
Chastain’s performance was very good, in comparison. Even her small changes in facial expressions speaks volumes. The art direction, costumes and makeup were exquisite, reinforcing the contrast between the worlds where these two characters spent their lives up to that point.
Cinematographer Yves Cape frames such beautiful shots showing off the architecture of the homes of the affluent, in both San Francisco and Mexico. He lingers on wide shots where the characters occupy small areas of the frame, making many of the frames look like covers of Architecture magazines.
Dreams is a challenging film to watch for a number of reasons, but I think that’s what good cinema should do. Thanks to the Genre Gems Film Festival for programming it and bringing this film to an Ottawa audience during its inaugural year.
Genre Gems is a five-day film festival that showcases the very best in genre cinema. The festival aims to provide a counter-cultural slate of standout discoveries for fans of adventurous, boundary-pushing filmmaking. From horror films to science fiction, the carefully curated programme spotlights hot festival titles from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Fantasia, Locarno, and TIFF for their prestigious Ottawa premieres. More information on the festival website.
Jith Paul
Web Designer, Editor, Film Reviewer
Jith Paul is an independent filmmaker based in Ottawa. While pursuing a career as a software engineer, he decided to take a detour to follow his passion for film and filmmaking, establishing Treepot Media in 2010.
He is a co-founder of the Ottawa Canadian Film Festival, and editor of the film613 blog.
When he is not busy fighting crime, he coordinates the efforts of an international team of software developers and service providers as the Team Lead for Digital Development at CPAC, the Cable Public Affairs Channel.
Follow Jith on letterboxd. More at jithpaul.com
He is a co-founder of the Ottawa Canadian Film Festival, and editor of the film613 blog.
When he is not busy fighting crime, he coordinates the efforts of an international team of software developers and service providers as the Team Lead for Digital Development at CPAC, the Cable Public Affairs Channel.
Follow Jith on letterboxd. More at jithpaul.com
