WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (director: Vincent Ward; screenwriter: Ron Bass/based on the novel by Richard Matheson; cinematographer: Eduardo Serra; cast: Robin Williams (Chris Nielsen), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Albert), Annabella Sciorra (Annie Nielsen), Max von Sydow (the Tracker), Jessica Brooks Grant (Marie Nielsen), Josh Paddock (Ian Nielsen), Werner Herzog (Face in hell), 1998)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A metaphysical love fantasy film by the New Zealand director Vincent Ward (The Navigator/Map of the Human Heart). The most important question this film seems to ask, Is how could one take Robin Williams seriously? Answer: You can't! It's strictly a film overloaded with cornball and tripe scenes; a film that starts out with breathtaking visuals, with the possibility that we are moving into the special territory of the imagination, but it soon turns into a conventional Hollywood tearjerker. It does this without the benefit of good acting, a meaningful story, or pertinent dialogue- all that's diverting is some hokum about heaven and hell, plus some beautiful photography of paintings ranging from Caspar David Friedrich to Renoir to Salvador Dali. The film, to its most assured benefit, was magnificently shot in the splendor of Montana's Glacial Forest, giving it a tremendous visual appeal.
It was shot from a religious non-denominational basis, but does a disservice to all religions by being inaccurate about what it sells for religious belief. It explores no deep metaphysical themes, develops no characters, asks no real hard questions, it only seems to be made for materialists, those who are so enamored by the 'New Age' of materialism, that this film holds out hope for them that they can live forever and reunite with their loved ones in heaven.
God's name comes up once. Robin Williams asks his guide Albert (Cuba Gooding) when he is dead: "Where is God?" Cuba answers: "He's up there somewhere." You can see for yourself how heavy the dialogue is. But, at least, it did clear up where God was.
The mushy plot is about a perfect couple, Dr. Chris Nielsen (Robin) and Ann (Annabella). She's an artist and an art restorer, who works for a museum. They meet when their boats collide on a Swiss lake, and it was love at first sight for these soul mates. They are happily married with a boy and a girl, but tragedy hits when their kids die in an auto crash. She feels guilty that she wasn't driving and has a breakdown, even seeing a "shrink." But, through Chris' total devotion to her, she has fully recovered.
Four years later Chris is on a rainy highway when a car crashes into the pediatrician while he is trying to help some others in a car crash. His wife is despondent that she lost all her loved ones in auto accidents, so she commits suicide.
What the film tries to do is imagine the unknown. When Chris first arrives in heaven, he finds himself inside one of Annie's romantic paintings. After making his way in a gorgeous flower bed, he finds himself covered with paint, as though he had landed on a piece of art that still hadn't dried. Cuba Gooding is his angel guide. He gives us the real deal as to what is going on in heaven, like telling us "Thought is Real." "The Physical is the Illusion." He also lets us know, that Heaven, means becoming who you want to be. I could have done without his expertise in these matters. I could have also done without him in the film; he was about as miscast as Robin Williams was.
Since Chris' wife is a suicide, she is assigned to hell. The Tracker (Max von Sydow) tells us, "Hell is for those who don't know they're dead.'' To get there and take Annie back with him to heaven, Chris enlists the Tracker's help. Hell is seen as an eternal sea of doomed human heads, twisted metal objects, and gloomy brownish colors.
The chatter about the afterworld is nonsensical psychological babble. The story is played with such misplaced conviction, that this emotionless story was not only devoid of reason and intellectual acuity, but was an embarrassment in every other possible way. For a film that was so stylishly lush to look at, it had little else to offer. I sort of liked Ann's line when in hell: "Sometimes you lose when you win." I think you'll probably lose when you see this clinker. I wasted some precious earth time viewing what passes for the film's banal concepts of heaven and hell. There was just nothing real about this film, or anything to learn from it, or anything I felt about it, except irritated.
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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