A Casa dos Sonhos

Aceitar a oferta de Jim Sheridan é um ato evidente mesmo para atores de topo. Mas desta vez eles deram um passo em falso. A Casa dos Sonhos é tão quebrada e contraditória dramaturgicamente que é uma arte de distinguir se o argumento ou a direção são mais culpados. Provavelmente ambos, no entanto. O filme combina dois temas incompatíveis, cada um dos quais requer uma abordagem totalmente diferente da produção cinematográfica. Um intrigante jogo de esquizofrenia psicológica com espetador, baseada em Shutter Island de Scorsese, transforma com um virar da página de argumento, com uma reviravolta totalmente disfuncional e indesejada, num thriller de assassinato suave, ambientado no campo americano. Além disso, as duas faces do filme estão unidas por um enredo questionável (não)fantasmagórico que acentua ainda mais a sua incompatibilidade e se torna mais ridículo do que aquilo queria ser, ou seja, romântico-melancólico. O que os cineastas pretendiam pode ser deduzido da mistura doce e azeda resultante, mas não poderiam ter começado por uma parte pior. A propósito, um Daniel Craig suado e exausto com um corte de cabelo oleoso teria feito um grande Hannibal Lecter. (06/10/2011)

Dream House looks like an adaptation of a book that could have easily (in a weekend) been written by Stephen King. The protagonist is about to write a novel, he, his wife and children find a new house, but their garden is haunted at night, the house has a mysterious past, the neighbors, who might know something about it, are stubbornly silent... And the atmosphere gets thicker and thicker. So now is when the (potential) audience splits into "Sounds good, I want to see it", "I don't care and don't want to see it" and "It'll be crap, but I have to see it so I can bitch about it later". I'm very glad I ended up in the first group (and I'm sure the aforementioned "kingliness" is to blame - I bet the screenwriter is a big fan of the master too). Those expecting a bloody horror film full of ghosts will be disappointed, but Dream House is a very good drama with a suspenseful plot. If you enjoy the opening 40 minutes or so, I think you'll devour the rest of the film after the twist that comes halfway through. The acting is superb and Daniel Craig's performance is a joy to watch, the fabulously chilling music of John Debney plays in the background, and director Sheridan literally creates the perfect atmosphere and clearly knows what the word gradation means. On the one hand I'm sorry that Dream House is so poorly rated, but on the other hand I'm glad that I enjoyed it so much.__P.S. Avoid the full trailer.__P.P.S. And if you listen to the soundtrack before the film, avoid the song titles for good measure. (02/02/2012)

Wow! This was painful disappointment. A very promising line up featuring Jim Sheridan as director, with Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts in the main roles, but a terrible product that doesn’t work at all. The moment you start thinking a little about it, you realise that it doesn’t make any sense. And yet, the premise is not pointless, it just needs a completely different approach. (16/12/2011)

Oh dear, so many familiar names and such a lackluster outcome... First of all, this was hardly a horror film because the creators tried to scare me with jump scares that would only work on kids at a summer camp. Honestly, I can't even pin down the genre of this movie; to me, it felt like a mishmash of everything the creators had ever seen on screen, and it didn't quite gel. I don't have the highest opinion of Canadian cinema (with some exceptions), and this movie certainly didn't improve my view. / Lesson learned: When you're about to get in bed with someone, check their pulse first. (10/05/2022)