It will tell the haunting story of broken souls, toxins, looming environmental and spiritual catastrophes, and the ties that bind a parent to a child.
Chuck says:
There’s a good movie somewhere in Claudia Llosa’s “Fever Dream,” a film intent on adhering to its title to its detriment. Based on the novel by Samanta Schweblin, the story begins with an unsettling sight – unable to move, a young woman named Amanda (Maria Valverde) is being drug through a forest by a boy named David (Emilio Vodanovich). Where she’s being taken and why are only two of the many mysteries Llosa takes far too long to reveal as the viewer is treated to extended flashbacks taking place in a rural community with a multitude of secrets.
The linchpin of the story is Carola (Dolores Fonzi), a woman who, under drastic circumstances, turns to a purveyor of folk medicine for help. Her son David has fallen ill and with no doctors nearby and her husband (Guillermo Pfening) away, she’s left to turn to Mama de Nena (Macarena Barros), a woman specializing in home remedies. She reveals David’s been poisoned and her solution is to divide his lifeforce in two, placing each half in separate bodies. And while this may look good on paper, it doesn’t come off well as David is not as he was before and who has the other part of his soul remains a mystery.
This is a solid premise for a horror film, but Llosa’s approach is problematic. All of these details are dispensed with offscreen narration provided by Amanda and David who are recounting as these events as…well, it takes a long, long time before it’s revealed how the first scene relates to the rest of the movie. We are treated Amanda’s backstory and how she and her daughter Nina (Guillermina Liotta) have come to the small Chilean town where the action takes place.
Sliding back and forth between past events and a murky present, the serpentine path the story takes is beyond frustrating. Llosa toys with us throughout, offering up what appears to be an opening to the answers we seek, only to double back in the narrative before anything can be revealed. Screaming at the screen is allowed while taking all this in.
It’s too bad the narrative is such a muddle as the filmmaker does a fine job creating a locale seeping with dread as much of the action takes place on the border between civilization and a deep forest, where we know nothing good can take place. Equally unnerving is the character of David as rendered by Vodanovich who creates a sense of unease in the viewer with a single glance or widening of the eyes. Something ain’t right about that kid and the young actor drives this home forcefully.
Once we finally get to the big reveal, it’s a bit of a letdown. Anyone half paying attention can tell just what’s causing the rash of illnesses in the village. That’s there’s not something more to it all feels like a cheat. Without question, the intent of the filmmaker is in the right place but she fails to follow through on the supernatural bent she’s teased throughout. In the end, “Fever Dream” ends up being too clever for its own good. Llosa longs to say something profound but can’t get out of her own way to do so.
2 Stars
Pam says:
2 1/2 Stars
