Jonas Alexander Arnby's When Animals Dream tells the story of Marie, a 16-year old Scandanavian teenager living on a small island with her terminally ill mother and her father, who spends nearly all of his time taking care of his wife. Marie's mother is heavily medicated due to her condition, almost permanently in a vegetable state, but when Marie herself begins to feel something primal awakening inside herself, this young 16-year-old begins to realize her family has a dark family secret which puts them all in mortal danger from the townsfolk around them. When Animals Dream is skilfully made but it doesn't show the same mastery for composition and atmosphere as Let the Right One In, nor the thematic parable that makes Ginger Snaps such a fun experience. When Animals Dream is a film that is feels stuck in the middle, never quite capable of being strong enough in any way to discern itself from other films that use supernatural horror as a symbolic device for the difficulties centered around female adolescence, a coming of age type story if you will which includes a form of sexual awakening. Much of what makes When Animal Dream work is its strong lead-performance, with Sonia Suhl creating a well-rounded character as Marie, a vulnerable teenager at first who discovers herself, which in a movie like this means trouble for certain more oppressive forces like the townspeople who know of her families dark secret. The film does create a strong amount of atmosphere but I never found myself particularly invested in many of the plot points of the narrative, with the bully type male characters and the love interest all being uninteresting and only taking away from the more compelling family dynamics. Of course a major aspect of these shortcomings must truly be placed on a rather un-compelling narrative, which quite frankly shortchanges the film which is otherwise melodic werewolf tale. One could argue that the romantic interest of Marie provides a nice poetic parallel to that of her mother and father's fate, but once again I'd argue their relationship isn't earned, needing more development than a few cold stares and small time exchanges. Creating an effective atmosphere which really embraces the small town vibe where everyone has a hand in everyone elses business, Jonas Alexander Amby's When Animals Dream is a solid, albeit conventional story of female body horror that hits many of the same tropes across its narrative, which can be unfortunate given the skilled direction the film does possess.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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