Released in 2006 and directed by Jason Matzner, "Dreamland" is slice-of-life drama about several people at a small trailer park called Dreamland in the New Mexican desert. A blossoming poetess (Agnes Bruckner) and her sickly Miss America wannabe bestie (Kelli Garner) are both stirred by a newly arrived basketball protégé (Justin Long), which eventually creates conflict. Also on hand are a drug-addled "boy toy" (Brian Klugman), a father struggling with grief & alcoholism (John Corbett) and a couple musicians (Gina Gershon & Chris Mulkey). This is a subdued and mundane indie drama with beautiful New Mexican cinematography, a spiritual soundtrack and reverential tone. From the get-go it is pictorially established that the looming transmission towers represent the Fountain of Life (the Creator) and the healing powers thereof, which draw the physically, mentally or spiritually broken. The cast are at various stages of searching, lost-ness or suffering. One critic panned the film on the grounds that it seemed like "Debbie Downer" wrote the script, but this simply isn't accurate. Yes, there are some sad or foolish facts-of-life addressed, but there's something intangibly beautiful and transcendent going on behind the scenes throughout. Not every loose-end is tied up at the end, but the movie leaves you with a sense of hope. It also leaves you wondering. The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in New Mexico (Placitas, Rio Rancho & Albuquerque). WRITER: Tom Willett.GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

Plot The story centers on a young girl named Audrey that lives in a trailer park in the New Mexico desert. We soon learn that her best friend Calista, also from the trailer park, has succumbing to the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis and that her father can't leave the grounds of the trailer park because he's so emotionally crippled by the death of his wife, our protagonist's mother. Enter stage left ... Justin Long, now and forever known as the Apple guy, stumbles upon their trailer park on his way to a basketball tryout at UNLV. Central Conflict Audrey is a girl destined for greatness who hides her fear of failure in the stoic duties of taking care of her emotionally crippled father and her friend Calista who's diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As Justin Long's Character, Mookie, starts to gravitate towards Calista, we see Audrey start to project her dreams and desires of leaving the trailer park behind onto him. The friendship between Audrey and Calista unravels as the two girls fight for his affection. And in the end, you really don't care who ends up with him. This movie drowns in what I'll refer to as the "victim mentality." The lead character blames her dead mother, her father, her friends and her trailer park for not being able to move on with her life. And instead of doing what she already knows is the best thing for her to do, she allows herself to be paralyzed by her self pity. It takes Justin Long to come along and give her something she had all along ... self respect. This movie is just too contrived, clichéd, unoriginal and has been done before in better movies such as Bodies, Rest & Motion and Gas, Food Lodging. Also, it's as if the script was written by Debbie Downer ... "I want to be Miss America but I have MS" ... queue the Wah-Wah trumpets. Characters Justin Long cast as an undiscovered basketball prodigy living in the desert? Really? Soccer maybe but not basketball. Kelli Garner cast as the second fiddle in a trailer park that only contains two girls? Really? Was the casting director blind? Gina Gershon's part consists of us watching her unpack Justin Long's crap? Really? Central Casting! I need a super hot actress in her late thirties to early forties that can unpack the back of a truck? Horrible casting but I blame the script more than the cast for this epic failure.http://scottishtexan.blogspot.com

DREAMLAND is one of those little Indie films that sneaks up on you, draws you in and leaves you feeling fulfilled. Written by Tom Willett and directed with great sensitivity to both style and message by Jason Matzner, the film boasts a truly remarkable cast in every role and the ensemble acting is some of the finest in this year's lineup."Dreamland" is the name of a very small trailer park in New Mexico, out in the sticks, yes, but surrounded by the magnificence of majestic clouds in crystalline blue skies and a land free of industrial detritus - except for the powerlines that play such an important role in the story. In a sad trailer house live Audrey (Agnes Bruckner), a poet who has given up chances for college to remain with her father Henry (John Corbett), a man decimated by the death of his wife to the point that he is unable to leave the trailer even to buy the beer and cigarettes that sustain his life. Audrey also is caring for her closest friend Calista (Kelli Garner), a beautiful girl who dreams of becoming Miss America but knows her life is to be shortened by the fact that she suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. Audrey writes her poetry but her life is consumed by being the caretaker for Henry and Calista.Into the trailer park moves a new 'family' - hunky young Mookie (Justin Long) and his mother ex-singer/performer Mary (Gina Gershon) and her live-in boyfriend Herb (Chris Mulkey). Audrey and Calista watch them unpack and while both girls find Mookie attractive, Audrey talks Calista into dating him. Audrey's only male contact is her 'sex-buddy', tacky and gawky Abraham (Brian Klugman) who works at the local convenience store with Audrey. Mookie and Calista begin an affair while Audrey looks on longingly, and when Calista lets Mookie know she has MS the relationship is strained: Mookie also is leaving for the university soon.Audrey confesses her feelings for Mookie and Calista flees on a motorcycle to chase the now departed Mookie. She is in an accident and is hospitalized and since she has broken her relationship with her caretaker Audrey, Henry manages to draw enough courage to leave his trailer to sit at Calista's hospital bedside - along with visits from Mookie. Calista's accident makes her even more aware of her fractured future and she releases her feelings for Mookie, reconnects with Audrey, and Audrey's father discovers her many letters of acceptance to college she has hidden to prevent abandoning her role as caretaker and convinces Audrey to flow with her dreams instead of being imprisoned in Dreamland. And the manner in which each of the characters in the film resolves the changes now facing them is the tender ending of the story.DREAMLAND is created by a very strong cast of fine actors who dwell solidly within their characters' psyches, making this somewhat surreal story very real indeed. The setting is extraordinary in its ordinariness and the camera-work by Jonathan Sela is impeccable. This is a strong story about coming of age, about quality of love, and about being human. It is a treasure. Grady Harp

This is an introspective film about a young girl named Audrey. Her mother has died, her father is agoraphobic, and her best friend is struggling with her health as well. They live in a beautiful area of New Mexico, but their home is a dismal trailer park. Audrey would like to escape this dead end life but sees no way out since most of the people she loves depend on her. This movie is about her (and their) journey to discover how they can escape their ruts.The film is well made; the characters are all well developed, and Agnes Bruckner, John Corbett (in a big departure from his usual persona) and Justin Long (among others!!) all do a great job portraying their respective characters.Unfortunately, this film won't reach a wide audience, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed it.