Spooky season is right around the corner, and the Paramount Theatre is ready with a stacked lineup for this year's Panic at the Paramount.
The annual horror takeover at the historic – and allegedly haunted – theater will return for six nights in October and November, offering screenings of scary classics, plus some unique experiences like Q&As and scores performed in concert.
On October 11, Austin drag icon Louisianna Purchase will host a double-feature of the 1989 Pet Semetary adaptation and Hausu – a 1970s Japanese horror film also known by its English translation, House. The night will begin with a preshow drag performance.
On October 16, actor David Naughton, who played the iconic werewolf protagonist David Kessler, will be in-house for a Q&A following a screening of the creature-feature classic An American Werewolf in London.
And just before Halloween, on October 29, director Robert Rodriguez will introduce the ultimate slasher film, John Carpenter's Halloween, followed by a mystery film programmed by Rodriguez himself. The Paramount says the second film won't be announced until the night of the screening, so movie-goers will have to live in suspense until then.
Finally, Panic at the Paramount will wrap up with two special screenings accompanied by live score.
The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.
It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.
Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).
Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other — not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter — that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.
But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.
Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.
Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than she should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.
Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.
