‘Dreamin’ Wild’ is A Gentle Triumph of Inner Heartache and Grace
(REVIEW) “Dreamin' Wild” is a hauntingly beautiful movie that subverts typical “achieve your dreams” movie tropes and replaces them with gentle affirmations of grace and reconciliation.
The film is based on the true story of two brothers, Donnie Emerson (Casey Affleck) and Joe Emerson (Joe Emerson), who recorded the album “Dreamin’ Wild” in the 1970s only to never achieve the fame they desired. Decades later, they find that their album has taken off and they now have to deal with their newfound fame and how this changes their lives and relationships.
The story, although deceptively simple, is remarkably subversive — as most true stories tend to be since they are not made to suit our tastes, as G.K. Chesterton observed. Unlike most “follow your dreams” stories, this one isn’t about people trying to achieve their dreams and succeeding (or failing) but about how long after their dreams have been crushed, they get a second chance at their dreams through no doing of their own.
Further, unlike most such tales where there are a bunch of naysayers holding back the hero (typically the dad), here, everyone is completely supportive, and the obstacles to achieving the hero’s dreams are simply reality itself — which doesn’t give everyone their shot at a dream. What this means is that the struggles are mostly internal, with the characters dealing with the intense emotions of not getting their dreams and then getting them back.
The subversiveness continues as we see that changing their dreams didn’t make them happy, it made everyone’s lives worse. It was only after they’d given up their dreams it was given back to them later, and they have to fight to keep the most important things in life the most important things — which is their family — even as they try to accept this gift of having their dreams back.
The biggest stroke of genius of this film is how it cleverly focuses the audience not on the events that are unfolding but on the internal world of the people they’re happening to. The camera will frequently hold on someone’s face for a long time — most often Donnie — while people are talking all around them, so that are focus is on what he is feeling and how he’s wrestling with what’s going on, rather than what’s going on.
The flashbacks also are unusually well utilized for a movie. They are seamlessly melded with moments that would naturally trigger those memories and feel like an extension of focusing on Donnie’s internal world and the separation that internal world is making between him and what’s happening, and the other people in his life.
The acting is top notch. Casey Affleck reminds us all why there is no one better at playing a broken sad boy with a heart of gold. You feel every agonizing, complicated, bottled-up emotion and are ready for it to spill out. Zoey Deschanel plays his wife, Nancy, who adds so much welcome brightness to the film you’d swear she was from another movie, but in a good way. All the other actors, from Walton Goggins (who plays Joe Emerson), to Beau Bridges (who plays Don Sr.) to Noah June and Jack Dylan Grazer (who play young Donnie and Joe Emerson) play these grounded and humble people with layers of quiet authenticity without a hint of caricature.
The Emerson family are Christians, and faith plays a small role here. We see Joe Emerson lighting a candle and praying before a picture once of Jesus and Mary. The family talks about how faith is important to them, and they pray before their big concert as adults.
Far more often though than the family talks about faith in God, they talk about having faith in family, or how important dreams are. It’s hard to tell if the real-life family’s faith was purposefully minimized, or if that’s an accurate telling of how much their faith was integrated into their lives. It certainly is accurate to how American Christianity is lived out by most people. According to the book “Handing Down The Faith,” which studies how families pass on their faith to their children, a shockingly low number of Christian parents regularly discuss matters of faith with their children outside of church, even though that’s one of the strongest predictors of whether someone will remain Christian.
There is another element that people of faith particularly will likely resonate with: how difficult it is to respond well to grace. In Christian theology, all good things in our lives, including but not limited to forgiveness of sins and being welcomed into the body of Christ, are free gifts of grace that we do not earn. And yet, so often we don’t feel good about the good in our lives unless we earn it. When Donnie attempts to achieve his dreams on his own, nothing works out for him. But years later, success is handed to him out of the blue, and he spirals as he figures out how to deal with it and tries to earn this second chance because he feels guilty about how much he’s hurt his family by not succeeding the first time. It’s only when he accepts forgiveness and accepts the gift of this opportunity for itself that he’s able to reconcile.
The movie doesn’t end with a huge emotional crescendo but with a whisper. It felt like there was some emotional beat that was missing, which can hardly be described but will likely leave many feeling like the ending was weaker than it should have been. But perhaps that was in keeping with the rest of the film, which was quiet, meditative and gentle but profound.
If you’re looking for a deeply gentle but deeply moving picture of how grace and dreams hurt and heal us on the inside and can eventually lead us out of ourselves to embrace those around us, then “Dreamin’ Wild” is what you’ve been waiting for.
“Dreamin’ Wild” arrives in theaters nationwide Aug. 4.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.com, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephholmesstudios.com.