Dreamers - Film Review

Ann Lu

Dreamers is a provocative film for anyone who dares to dream. It is the writing and directorial debut of a remarkable young woman.

If anyone has the opportunity to see Dreamers they will come away inspired. Dreamers features a tightly written storyline, multi-dimensional characters well acted by a young cast of professionals, with excellent editing and cinematography. This is quite an achievement since the low-budget film was shot in 30 locations, primarily in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area, in just 18 days.

The storyline is universal, of achieving one's dreams despite adversity and harsh realities. Lu says it's nearly autobiographical, of her dream to come to the United States to become a filmmaker. But if one never knew the background of Ann Lu, a confident, articulate woman with a passion for her work, one would never guess that the writer director was born and raised in Chengdu, China and first arrived to the United States to go to school in Knoxville, Tennessee just seven years ago...

When asked why she chose her Dreamers storyline, which is about Americans and has nothing to do with an Asian theme or her background from China, Lu said she chose a universal theme and wants to be known as a filmmaker, not as an "Asian" filmmaker. She wants to avoid the stereotyping often faced by Asian people who are filmmakers who are expected to have a certain Asian focus in their work.

She's certainly proved her point and is one extremely talented filmmaker. Lu was named the 1999 Malibu Film Festival's Best Screenwriter.

Her film has captured the essence of Americana so well, it is hard to believe that this woman arrived to the United States just seven years ago. Lu said there were few American made feature films available to see in Chengdu, China when she was growing up.

Dreamers begins in the heartland of the United States with the main characters growing up in two distinctly different households, one a dysfunctionally abusive home, and the other a Church going non-drinking non-smoking morals preaching family. As the lead character Ethan leaves the predictability of his rural American hometown to find his filmmaking dream in Hollywood, the scenes change to grunge and sleaze, with graphic scenes of nudity and hookers of Hollywood's backside and back alleys.

Even with the rough backdrop, the main character, Ethan Mullane, keeps his lifelong dream to produce his own feature film while managing to maintain his own standards of integrity and ethics. Ethan is played convincingly by actor Mark Ballou, a veteran actor with film credits including 20th Century Fox's 1988 release "Big," and numerous television series appearances such as Fox's "21 Jump Street," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Roseanne."

When asked if she would enter her film into Asian American Film Festivals, Lu said she would consider it, but again, her concern is about being typecast as an Asian first and a filmmaker second.

Lu has two future projects in the works, a psychological thriller and yes, an Asian themed modern odyssey about an American journalist's travels through China. Lu considers filmmaking her way to explore the human mind and spirit and looks forward to making more character-driven films that can enlighten and touch people's lives.

"Filmmaking is all about passion, especially in the independent world, where adversity is all we encounter," says Lu, "the only thing that keeps us going is our passion."

Dreamers continues to screen throughout the United States.      - SK