In Dreams (Dir: Neil Jordan, 1999, US) Suspense thriller
In Dreams (18)

Reviewed 10 May 1999

Annette Bening and serial killer thrillers are not two things you would put together but in this latest offering from Neil Jordan, she gets the chance to explore Silence of the Lambs country - just a pity her character's map is only revealed in glimpses.

What we all of course want to get to is who is the serial killer, what's the relevance of a load of apples and an orchard, a flooded town and the scrawled writing that keeps reoccurring from the opening titles onward.

What develops is an intriguing, yet over the top tale of a seriously unhinged murderer who's possessing the mind of Claire (Bening).

Melodramatic and deeply flawed, this is beautifully shot by Darius Khnodji (Evita, Alien Resurrection); production design by alien veteran Nigel Phelps is also intriguing, light years away from his work on Judge Dredd and Alien Resurrection. An excellent score by Elliot Goldenthal and a near comatose performance by Stephen Rea make this offering from Jordan and co-screenwriter Bruce Robinson an intriguing, good-looking package that fails to stick in the mind.

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