Volume 134: Sweet Dreams
The Voice of Energy Vol. 134
Greetings, my friends. Thanks for joining me for another edition of the newsletter. Apologies for missing last week. I was down with a nasty illness that held me in its grip for the better part of 2 1/2 weeks. I'm only now getting clear of the last remnants of it, but it left me little time to watch any movies or think about them creatively / critically. But I'm back in the mix this time around with a review of a new film and an FTA streaming recommendation written by my kid, who will be making some semi-regular contributions to the newsletter. I hope you enjoy it.
Sweet Dreams (2023, dir. Ena Sendijarević)
The conclusion of Sweet Dreams, the delicately forceful new feature from Ena Sendijarević, feels inexorable and justified. The inevitable fate of its many characters is conscripted right from the moment Jan (Hans Dagelet), the Dutch owner of a sugar plantation in Indonesia, forces his beautiful young servant Siti (Hayati Azis) to dance for him before their rough, pleasureless dalliance that, in part, results in his death.
Nothing that happens between those two moments feels certain or expected — not even the revelation that Jan left the property, including the plantation and sugar factory, to Karel (Rio Kaj Den Haas), the illegitimate son he conceived with Siti, and not his wife nor his pale Dutch son Cornelis (Florian Myjer).
That bomb drop from Jan’s attorney churns up all manner of ugliness among everyone. The workers go on strike. The widow (Renée Soutendijk) insists, in a similarly outraged and privileged stance as Hedwig Höss took in The Zone of Interest when it seemed her family may be removed from their Auschwitz estate, that she be allowed to stay, even as her son starts plotting the sale of the land and buildings. And Cornelis and his hopped up, very pregnant wife Josefien (Lisa Zweerman) start plotting the death of young Karel.
In every other aspect of this story, Sendijarević flips the typical narrative on its head. The Dutch family may have the fine linen clothing and a haughty aristocratic air, but they are entirely without power in this unfamiliar land. The sugar production is at the mercy of the workers who rightfully don’t budge because they haven’t been paid. And their foolish attempts to exoticize the natives blows up in their faces.
In one particularly brilliant scene, Josefien, withering under the heat and the stings of mosquito bites, is led to a small stream in the forest by Reza (Muhammad Khan), a rabble-rouser seething with anger as he helplessly watched Jan’s seduction of Siti. Josefien reaches out to tentatively touch his arm, but recoils. Reza responds by massaging her shoulders and neck. As she gives him more access to her skin, she grabs his hand and directs it toward her breasts. In response, Reza pulls away and starts laughing derisively. Both he and Sendijarević know what this young woman is up to and neither are willing to give her, or the audience, the satisfaction.
Sweet Dreams opens in select theaters and is available through VOD services starting today.
FTA Pick of the Week
Our regular feature — a recommendation of a movie to watch that is hiding below the fold on one of the major streaming services. In other words: fuck the algorithm. This week's selector is my kid and friend of the newsletter, Liz Ham.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, dir. Don Siegel)
Hello all you wonderful people. Today is a special day for this particular instance of FTA, as a whole new person is going to be speaking on a great movie that deserves more eyes on it. Today's pick is Don Siegel’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers. A movie that is both a product of its time and relevant today is almost never seen, but Body Snatchers certainly deserves this title. A period piece about Cold War paranoia whose message is so evergreen that you can see nearly every message that it warns us about today, and some of those messages are even more pertinent today than when it was made. None of this would work without the incredible actors that give the film a true sense of terror. Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter make for a truly strong duo, and they pull off the terrified couple dynamic incredibly well, and the scene where all hope is ostensibly lost solidifies these performances as some of the best in horror. With an entry into the 1000 Movies You Must See Before You Die book series, a place on Letterboxd’s top 250 horror movies, and themes that could be seen as inspiration for The Thing, it is a true shame that this one isn't more widely known.
Invasions of the Body Snatchers is available to stream on Paramount+.
Thanks, as always, for reading this newsletter. Barring any accidents or further medical maladies, I'll be back next Friday with a fresh edition. Have a good week.
Artwork for this edition is from LOVERULES, an exhibit of the work of Hank Willis Thomas that is on display at Seattle's Henry Art Gallery through August 4.
This newsletter was written on the unceded land where once stood the traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River creating communities and summer encampments to harvest and use the plentiful natural resources of the area.