You’ve probably never heard of first-time Russian
actor-writer-director Roman Olkhovka or his new science-fiction infused
existential romantic drama Dreamover, only just now creeping out onto
streaming platforms (albeit English dubbed on Vudu). And that’s okay because the Moscow set and
based picture turned out to be a sweet and heartfelt little answer of sorts to
the recent slew of romantic science-fiction spoken of the same breath as Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Altered States, Vanishing Waves
or more recently the Russian psychological drama Hypnosis.
Though the film is currently only being slated as a
streaming release in the US despite critical acclaim, however you wind up
tracking this down to watch, it winds up being one of the more emotionally
involved date movies stoking elements of youthful longing for a better past. While blurring the lines of fantasy and
reality to the point where the saga becomes interpretive rather than
necessarily literal, the film sits somewhere between the existential yearnings
of Charlie Kaufman and such independently young actor-director driven
coming-of-age romantic works as Alex Wolff’s The Cat and the Moon.
Middle-aged loner Dmitriy (Ilya Chepyrev) withers away in
solitude in his apartment when recurring nightmares of being submerged in a
large body of water begin haunting his sleep and trigger insomnia. Desperate for a good night’s rest, he happens
upon an advertisement for an experimental neurological treatment involving what
looks like a handheld internet modem that broadcasts a signal intended to
filter out bad dreams with pleasant happy ones.
The doctor’s office, it should be noted, shares that same nuts-and-bolts
makeshift look as the aforementioned Eternal Sunshine which is clearly
an inspiration.
--Andrew Kotwicki