Erik Benson and Alexander Woo’s In Your Dreams follows the rhythm of a shadowy charm, a tale sewn out of Grimm folklore and contemporary anxieties. At its core, the film is about Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and Elliot (Elias Janssen) – siblings who set out to the dreamworld in search of the Sandman (Omid Djalili), hoping to mend the broken bond between their parents, played with aching restraint by Simu Liu and Cristin Milioti.
The dream world is a land of grotesque and charming creatures: Craig Robinson’s Baloney Tony provides comic menace; Gia Carides’ Nightmara stalks with eerie authority; and the Sandlings (voiced by Lizzie Freeman, Kellen Goff, and Scott Menville) whisper cautionary voices that feel carved from shadow. Stevie grounds the picture in ferocity, in reminders that dreams are corridors of wonder and fear
The directors have constructed a visually impressive world that pulses with ritual and danger, even when it groans under its own ambitions. Certain nightmare sequences take too long, allowing the urgency of Stevie’s and Elliot’s quest to be diluted. In Your Dreams is at its most resonant when it focuses on the children confronting their deepest fears—their family being separated, the terror of that loss.
This mixture of dread and hope coexisting makes the movie a rich dream drama. It shows how real family happiness comes with obstacles: trudging through uneasy things, dealing with menace, bearing the consequences of choice and change.It’s a story that dares to be magical and monstrous, fragile, imperfect and yet memorable, a fairy tale that that both awes and shivers.
Grade: B+. Streaming on Netflix.
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