Vague Visages’ Dream Team review contains minor spoilers. Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman’s 2024 movie on Amazon and Apple features Alex Zhang Hungtai, Esther Garrel and Isabelle Barbier. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

An independent “fever dream” flick can feel both exhilarating and frustrating, due to the inherent premise (REM/sleepy cinema) and creative direction (refusing to make sense of anything or subtly connecting the narrative dots). Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun is somewhat of a modern master of this particular sub-genre, evidenced by weirdly wonderful and aesthetically pleasing movies from this decade like We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) and I Saw the TV Glow (2024). Similarly, indie filmmaker Michael M. Bilandic consistently displays a clean artistic touch in art-themed, low-budget productions (see Project Space 13). On the flip side, a film like Dream Team — produced by the aforementioned Schoenbrun — immerses viewers into a fever dream world but lacks the directorial polish that one might expect from experienced filmmakers such as Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman.

Dream Team shares numerous themes with Horn and Kalman’s previous feature, Two Plains & a Fancy (2018): mysticism, geological events, overt sexuality, clever character names and cryptic sociopolitical messaging. Alex Zhang Hungtai (Twin Peaks) and Esther Garrel (Call Me by Your Name) star as “hot” Interpol agents Chase National and No St. Aubergine, respectively, who investigate an international conspiracy involving telepathic coral. Divided into seven episodes, the 91-minute crime film plays out like a soft-core, late-night Cinemax thriller, with the main headliners inexplicably taking a back seat to supporting characters like K (Fariha Róisín), Venice (Isabelle Barbier), Dr. Veronica Beef (Minh T Mia) and Roger Peniris (John Fell Ryan). Just as Two Plains & a Fancy begins with jittery camerawork and questionable acting, Dream Team’s first act is full of red flags: choppy editing, stiff line-readings and sexual content for the sake of being EDGY.  As the clunky narrative jumps from Canada to Mexico to Spain, the focal Interpol agents learn about a poisonous gas being emitted from corals, with Horn and Kalman referencing and/or highlighting Mexican Zapatistas, quantum mechanics and exotic dancers.

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Dream Team’s visual style and wink-of-the-eye humor will please stoners and the midnight movie crowd. As a whole, however, the messaging is incredibly sloppy. Furthermore, Horn and Kalman underutilize one of France’s best young actresses, Garrel (Google her family history), who should ideally be front and center from beginning to end. Instead, the filmmakers assemble a series of bizarre vignettes, rather than developing a cohesive narrative. Does Dream Team provide a memorable viewing experience? Sure… maybe for those who favor low-hanging fruit sex jokes and simplistic archetypes over structural clarity. To be fair, Horn and Kalman stay consistent with the coral premise, yet it seems like there are too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak. Imagine 10 comedians in a room trying to one-up each other with dick jokes and seemingly profound commentaries about Mother Earth.

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There’s a revolutionary edge to Dream Team that fuels each vignette, including one standout musical sequence. After nearly two decades of filmmaking, though, Horn and Kalman surprisingly haven’t tightened up the technical stuff. One could argue that stiff line-readings perfectly align with Dream Team’s overall style and tone, but how do you explain the rough editing? It’s those little things that help create a smooth flow from act to act, thus keeping the audience invested in the experience, strange as it may be. Personally, I don’t need Dream Team to make sense; it’s an art film with relevant sociopolitical themes and accessible humor. But I do want to see technical filmmaking improvements — better editing, better acting — from one movie to the next, especially after six years of downtime.

Dream Team released theatrically on November 15, 2024 at Metrograph in New York City.

Q.V. Hough (@QVHough) is Vague Visages’ founding editor. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film essays at Vague Visages. 

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