A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. had immense potential. This isn’t to say that the movie completely fumbles the ball because they don’t. The sentiment is there. You have two characters, Cast (Hardwick) and Frida (Good), that both want more out of their life; they both have dreams, but due to whatever circumstances that were unfortunately not made extremely clear, their lives aren’t playing out how they had either envisioned or, in a perfect world, would have hoped for.
Throughout this one night excursion between the two, we see, what appears to be, the first time that they are ever really grappling with their lives unfulfilled dreams. In the same way that the characters in La La Land (which just so happens to be my favorite movie) help each other to actualize their dreams. These two characters operate and exist within this world to unknowingly do just that for each other by asking simple but profound questions like “what do you really want?” and not taking “well no one ever gets what they want” as an appropriate response to avoid answering the question at hand or bringing to light some of their deepest insecurities.
Though, I felt as though their relationship was a bit childish and had the potential to turn into something toxic what with all of their overreactions, misinterpretations, and times where communication is lacking, through it all they still manage to be that beacon of light that is both inspiring and cataclysmic for one another.
There is also the environmental connection of the 2016 election that serves as a backdrop and monumental teaching moment for the both of them and honestly anyone that is living through it. The election of our current President serves as reminder that though it’s a new time that we’re living in where all you really have is your voice and purpose to help you get what you get whatever serves you, this is also just another moment where the resiliency of Black people as a whole gets to shine. Things are bound to happen to you throughout the course of your life, what matters is how you react to it; that is the thing that determines the course of your life.
Though, I was able to gather all of that from this movie, I again felt like things were not fully actualized when it came to the case of the movie’s political commentary. It’s there, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have been able to come to the conclusions that I did in the paragraph above, but it still feels like something is missing; it’s like their on the brink of something that never quite reaches the heights that the filmmakers had hoped. It also didn’t help that at times it felt like I was watching two separate movies: one revolving around people and their dreams and the other that revolves around the election.
The movie itself plays like one long take that at times I can understand. Long takes tend to immerse you into the story at hand as opposed to scenes with a bunch of edits and cuts. It’s obvious that this movie is going for a more realistic and immersive experience, however I did feel like in certain scenes the long take didn’t necessarily add anything more to that particular scene. We’re just kind of moving around in a room and we don’t necessarily get to understand everything it is that we’re seeing. Yes it could be looked at like an establishing mechanism to really ground us in whatever environment that we’re in, but that could’ve been done in half the time to where it doesn’t feel as if the scenes are going on for too long.
This was a good movie with some flaws whose overall effort I do very much applaud. Had things been a bit more fleshed out, I think that this small and quiet movie could’ve packed a big really big punch.
