Dreamhouse (2011)

Caution: Spoilers may follow. The very nature of the film means I don't want to give to much away, though something may slip through without me noticing while I ramble. Hell the spoilers may not even relate to Dreamhouse, I don't know...

This week has been quite eventful in regards to catching new movies. In a review coming soon I will be talking about watching The Thing (2011) on it's release in the UK but right now I'm going to head back a few days and talk about Dreamhouse (2011). I caught this midweek with a friend (I want the Fairy Tale) who I believe enjoyed the film even more than me, and who actually introduced me to it's existence; I had not heard about Dreamhouse before the decision of hitting the cinema was made. The extent of my knowledge was the synopsis on the 'now playing' website, which had swayed my opinion slightly:

"‘Dream House’, a thriller from director Jim Sheridan, follows a family’s dream as it turns into a nightmare when they move to an apparently perfect new house.

Soon after moving into their idyllic new residence, successful publisher Will (Daniel Craig) and his family make a shocking discovery; the previous occupants were brutally murdered and the killer remains at large.

Though the crime occurred in the past, Will finds that the prime suspect is very much part of the present as they become the killers next target in ‘Dream House’."
(synopsis from www.odeon.co.uk)

Immediately Amityville Horror (1979, 2005) came to mind when reading this. Without revealing too much about these films either, the general story is a family moves into an apparently idyllic new home before discovering the previous murders associated with the house and things tend to go downhill from there. My Amityville thoughts didn't die down early in the film when Libby (Rachel Weisz) mentions "There's something wrong with this house" which I could say with about 80% certainty is directly pulled out of the aforementioned films.

Thankfully, Dreamhouse ventured no where near the realms of Amityville Horror and the result is a thriller that really pulled me in past the half way point.

You may be wondering why only past the half way point and that's what I will be touching on now. I consider the reveal in the film the 'half way point' since it significantly shifts the story direction into something that really fascinated me. The unfolding of the plot past the reveal reminded me of a lot of my favourite DVDs and I was enticed to find out how they play it out. I was reminded a lot of Moon (2009) or Shutter Island (2010), both of which I love, where the development of the protagonist is the driving force of the movie. Will (Daniel Craig) and his mind set through the latter half of the film has placed Dreamhouse pretty high on my must-watch list of 2011.

But, you aren't wondering why I enjoyed sitting through this, you want to know why I wasn't interested during the first forty-fifty minutes. It really starts with the acting...

Rachel Weisz was perfect for her role, she portrayed housewife and mother with what seemed like a life-time of experience. I don't think I've seen Rachel Wiesz in a movie where I genuinely thought she was ideal for the role; I thought she was a great choice for The Mummy (1999) but ideal was a step too far. That being said, the other actors were sub-par at the best of times.

I'm...Confused? Sympathetic? Angry? Angry; I'm Angry.

My knowledge of Daniel Craig is his role as James Bond and I am not impressed by his monotoned acting. I have Layer Cake (2004) on DVD and have been told he's pretty damn good in it, but currently it is sitting in a long list of DVDs I still haven't watched and need to catch up on. Maybe I can post a few blogs around watching these movies for the first time but that's sidetracking. My opinion of Craig is that he plays one emotion, 'I am being serious', anything beyond that is a struggle for him to comprehend (I thought this to the point where, half an hour before going into the cinema, I was starting to think the father was being played by Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg, convinced they would be better for the role) and my opinion was pretty much back up at the start of Dreamhouse. He obviously had a good chemistry with Rachel Weisz while filming but he genuinely just appeared to be bored with life; even though he is retiring from a job he hates and is moving into writing a book (which I suppose is something he loves, his interest really isn't developed at all, he just flicks through his scrapbook of memories and pretends to write a bit more) while being able to work from home and stay around his children as they grow up. Craig seems to be living his ideal life but he seems borderline depressed and playing with his children seems forced and unwanted. Even when his family is at risk during the film he seems almost half-arsed in wanting to protect him. His anger came across to me as not a natural emotion, but something he thinks he should be feeling and acts accordingly. This behaviour does seem in line with the reveal later in the film, but this is what you're exposed to without knowing better and there was a short period where I wanted the hooded figure who haunts the family to attack Daniel Craig. Saying this, post-reveal Craig seems to pick up his game and plays Will a lot better after the direction of his character changes.

I'm...Naomi Watts?...

Noami Watts; again I think I've only ever seen her express confusion in films and this is going to be no exception. Her character developement goes from scared to curious yet aprehensive onto caring but she always has a childish look of confusion going on. Even after gaining context and understanding during the film, I was so misguided by her acting that I was thinking she was having an affair with Daniel Craig through the entire film. It is revealed she might have had an affair with a younger man but there is no connection to, or acknowledgement from, Craig's character. There has to be a point of reflection when the children involved are our-acting you. Although they weren't spot on in every scene (there were a few points where I picked up on the youngest daughter look to Weisz or her onscreen sister for prompts or direction) they were spot on with their roles even considering the change of direction.

That is pretty much the extent of my problems with the film. I look to the actors to really draw myself into a film, the first 10-30 minutes being pivotal, and the hook just never came. The change in direction at the half way point was my hook; that point felt like where two seperate, different films melding together and left something that was actually coherent. Luckily Daniel Craig did pick up his game post-reveal since the entire second half revolves around him alone. I was disappointed that the house did not play a more extensive role (as things develop you really feel as if the house becomes character of it's own, but I felt restricted towards the end. There wasn't enough exploration within the house or development of it's involvement to really make me feel the importance of the location in context; especially with the ending of the film) but this wasn't a realisation until a good while after getting home and writing out my notes...Eh, okay, there was one other point but I've just managed to fit two and two together to get four and not three. Yay me!

I said it before, but I'll conclude on this point. Dreamhouse is one of the top films I've seen this year and I would be happy to watch it again just to make sure I haven't missed anything out. The chemistry of the family, not necessarily the acting, can keep you going until the reveal of the movie and Daniel Craig gets his character almost inch perfect after his story arc changes direction. Moon is my favourite film that can successfully fuck with your mind and if the acting was addressed better I would place this film not too far behind. Maybe replace Daniel Craig with Sam Rockwell, but that's just a personal fantasy of mine...