Turn the wrong way. “Dream Driver” is an educational game film by Vera Lykova from the Mobile Film Laboratory. Shot on a smartphone sci-fi comedy critical of the objectification of women. Sounds pretty interesting. What's the matter?
The main character is a stereotypical “alpha male”, an Instagram blogger with the ridiculous nickname “Alex GG” performed by Vladislav Kuvitsyn. The blogger communicates with viewers live and reports that he will have a test taxi ride, the driver of which will be his double-hologram. The test will be evaluated by specialist Victoria, and the pickup trainer promises to “remove” it to demonstrate his skills. There are a number of difficulties.
First, the twin is the brother-twin of the starring actor Vadim Kuvitsyn, the realism of which immediately catches the eye and destroys the viewer’s expectation of the hologram. Considering modern realities, you expect a car on autopilot and a projection of a person, not a real double interacting with objects and casting shadows. It seems that even a few minor glitch or more cybernetic hologram voice could enhance the immersion in the science fiction world.
Secondly, the behavior and statements of the protagonist are so banal and stereotypical that the further development of dialogue and plot is easily foreseen. The conflict is in the best traditions of science fiction: if two versions of you touch, the space-time continuum will break. In our case, if two completely identical alpha males try to “shoot” the girl, both will be left with nothing.
There are certainly good things. First, the shooting. The position of the Mobile Film Laboratory is as follows: if it makes no sense to use a video camera for the implementation of the project, the film can be shot on a smartphone. In “Dream Driver”, the rationality of this principle is revealed very simply and successfully. The vast majority of scenes are either recording the Alex GG live screen or recording from the DVR (or its imitation) directed to the salon. Here, of course, there is no hint of aesthetics, interesting camera work, etc., but the question “is it necessary?” comes with an unequivocal answer “no”. Here there is a clear emphasis on the characters, the more lifestyle shooting is a reasonable part of the film.
Second, of course, the message. Yes, the film reeks of cliché and moralization, but this does not change the fact that the topic of objectification of women with such “gurus of removal” is extremely important, acute. Fortunately, the habits and replicas of the protagonist cause disgust and “Spanish shame”, the determination and self-esteem of Victoria is a sense of pride, and the denouement, despite the predictability, is perfectly reasonable.
On the way out, we get a very mixed impression. An interesting experiment with the format, the undoubted relevance of mobile shooting and a relevant message against a one-sided, cliched, banal and predictable plot.