Dream Land

By DENNIS HARVEY

A Silver Spine Prods. production. Produced by Christy Speicher. Executive producer, Steven Sonnenblick. Directed, written by Robert Hein.
 
With: Nitzan Gilady (Kamael), Brian Schany (Lazarus), Wayquay (singer), Sarah Heyes (Lila), Tony Llorens (Horning), Rosa Nino, Ben Wang, Charlie Strap, Tim Kale, Wayne Sheridan, Debra Dick, Beverly Pemberthy, Eillen Major, Eddie Buchen.
 

A road pic without discernible destination, itinerary or clue, "Dream Land" is one of those rare films whose precise failure can't be pinned because there's no guessing what was intended in the first place. Hopeless first feature by writer-director Robert Hein (who's done sound design work for Woody Allen, John Sayles and Spike Lee) may find commercial life imitating art: Any potential routes for exposure will lead nowhere.

Disorganized screenplay clumsily introduces several main figures. Lazarus (Brian Schany) is a moody young man with a seeming crush on his former co-worker Lila (Sarah Heyes). To get out of debt, she marries Palestinian emigre Kamael (Nitzan Gilady); she gets paid, he gets a green card, although their expectations about marital commitment prove quite disparate. Laz wants to visit his older African-American pal Horning (Tony Llorens), who's abruptly moved from NYC to a "monastery" in Columbus, Ohio. Lila volunteers to come along, bringing Kamael as well.

These characters don't understand, and keep abandoning, one another. They're all lost in self-contained worlds that are, unfortunately, no better defined here than the interpersonal relationships. Story developments seem so arbitrary that one suspects improvisation at work (though dialogue is often more pretentious than anyone could think up on the spot).

Most dreadful character is a rapping, singing, fatuous-homily-spouting Native American woman (Wayquay) who seems to have escaped from an "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" yea worse than Gus Van Sant's. In the end, she makes a sacrificial protest on behalf of Mother Earth (a vague environmentalism being one of several fleeting "themes" here). Lazarus is revealed to be Jesus Incarnate, no less, handing out miraculous bread loaves to the poor and the psychotic. This comes out of nowhere yet such bold ludicrousness seems welcome after the meandering torpor of most of the pic. Intentional-comedy bits fare no better than the symbolic or angst-ful ones.

Principal actors are OK under the circumstances, though some support turns are painfully amateur. Lensing is mediocre, editing a hapless attempt to shape materials under-conceived beyond rescue.

Camera (color, 16 mm-to-35mm), Luke Eder; editor, Miranda Devin; music, Dave Sabo; production design, Giorgi Alexi; sound, Juan Rodriquez. Reviewed at Mill Valley Film Festival, Oct. 5, 1996. Running time: 95 MIN.