Review: What Dreams
May Come
By Jon Stubbs
features editor
Robin Williams is dead in the lat
est Polygram release, What Dreams
May Come. That is to say he plays
the deceased pediatrician Chris
Nielsen who is survived by his soul
mate and wife, Annie. When Chris
dies, Annie is left with nobody, being
that her two children were killed four
years prior in a automobile accident.
Once Chris is dead, and in the af
terlife, he is taught the workings of
heaven by his guide, played by Cuba
Gooding Jr. Even though he is in the
most blissful of all places, Chris still
yearns for the company of his wife.
What Dreams has surrealistic land
scape created by an Academy Award
winning team of visual effects artists.
When he first enters heaven, Chris
finds himself inside one of Annie’s
paintings. Flowers made of pigment
and oil melt to his touch, and as he
imagines things, they become reality.
"I'm fascinated by the idea of using
computer technology to create some
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thing other than an explosion or a rap
tor,” remarks Williams. The art cre
ated by the effects team is truly origi
nal and is visually stimulating.
Production for the film began on
late June 1997 in Glacier
Lake National Park. “The first thing
we did was to try to figure out where
we could construct these huge majes
tic vistas,” says co-producer Alan
Blomquist. Later, the production crew
moved the set to the San Francisco
Baj Area where they constructed huge
sets in vacant hangars. There, the pro
duction crew designed a 300,000 gal
lon pool, which was used for various
scenes. Other props such as a 1,200-
foot long aircraft carrier were also
used. While searching for a particu
lar art style to act as a theme for
the film, director Vincent Ward found
his inspiration in the
works of Monet, Van Gogh and the
19th century German romanticists,
including Casper David Friedrich.
“The German romantics were fascinat
ing because they believed that nature
Features
was more powerful than man,” Ward
says. “They created a sense of para
dise that’s not a tame place. It’s a
place of roaring winds and twisted
trees and steep mountains and mist...
incredibly beautiful but at the same
time quite alone.” This description
of German romantics closely re
sembles the spectacle one sees in
What Dreams.
Critics have called What Dreams
“sappy” and “tear-jerking.” If they
feel that they can make a film con
cerning itself entirely with Heaven
without an ounce of sap, they are in
vited to do so. Another big complaint
is that the movie does not follow the
original Matheson novel. However,
What Dreams is an original sappy
tear-jerker, at the least. The film is
not in any way a cliche or stolen idea.
It’s an imaginative work that not only
appeals to the viewer’s romantic side,
but also to their visual sense. There
is only one obvious flaw in the film;
the ending is a bit of a letdown.
ACROSS
1 Paddle
4 Crushes to mush
9 Dazzling effect
14 Expected
15 Word with soap
or horse
16 Cork people
17 Psychic's gift
18 Thickset
19 Colorful fish
20 Some relatives
by marriage
22 “ Loves You”
23 Burned some
24 Sunk
intentionally
29 Opposing
position
30 Birds’ room
32 Poetic piece
33 Study of light
35 Nation near Fiji
37 Trudeau and
Curie
40 More of a
light-brown color
42 Unstructured
43 Having a cavity
45 Possess
46 Two-seater
48 Environs
52 Tongue element
54 Cooks’ garb
56 Slice of a circle
57 Spinoza or
Arnold
59 Excuse
62 “ Delicate
Condition"
63 Old card game
64 Distributed
hands
65 Vote in
66 Slip up
67 Wines' partner?
68 Sharon of
"Cagney &
Lacey”
69 Some; Fr.
DOWN
1 Black Sea port
2 “Emma" author
3 Second showing
4 Gang of good
guys
Thursday,October 8, 1998 - The Behrend College Beacon - Page 9
All rights reserved
5 Abreast of the
times
6 Writer Uris
7 acid
(hydrogen
cyanide)
8 Fri. follower
9 Four score and a
couple
10 Vinegar bottle
11 Back talk
12 African snake
13 Love neighbor
21 Arrest record
22 Big CA
25 Elsinore or
Balmoral, e.g.
26 Actress Anderson
27 Border
28 Cherished
31 Hindu deity
34 Past tense verbs
36 Forth
37 Scheme
38 Hawkeye state
39 Millennia
41 Reference books
44 Eccentric
47 Easy as
49 Muddied
50 Additional
performance
51 John Jacob and
Mary
53 Data display
55 Nuisances
58 Edgeless sword
59 Tack on
60 Island garland
61 Writer Fleming
62 Tent stake
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