1 March - "How do you kill a tofu?"

Dreamland (2006)
dir. Jason Matzner

CAST

Agnes Bruckner

Kelli Garner (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007)

Justin Long (He's Just Not That Into You, 2009)

John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 2002)

This movie is sort of like a girl-protagonist version of What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I mean, it has a lot of the same themes: altruistic teenager sacrifices ambition to serve family and friends in a small town until the arrival of a love interest sparks sudden dreams of an un-frustrated life.

I think I've mentioned before how I tend to be attracted to movies set in deserts. This movie was set in a trailer park in the desert and it was totally poetic. It reminds me of a painting in the art museum at Cornell. It was all pink and gold and the first one you saw when you got to the fifth floor. It also reminds me that I've always wanted to go to one of those places where everything is flat, and nothing's blocking your view of the horizon in all directions.

Objectively, I think Gilbert Grape is still a better movie, with better fleshed-out characters. But this movie is sweet in its simplicity, and refreshingly takes on the familiar theme of two friends in love with the same guy.