Daredreamer (1990)

Director:

Barry Caillier

Writers:

Barry Caillier (screenplay)
Barry Caillier (story)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

Plot:

Highschool dreamer, Winston, decides to make his dreams a reality when he realizes he shares them with schoolmate Jennie and they embark on a fantasy adventure of action and rock and roll. |

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Jim Hechim	...	Dicky of the Three D's
Theo Nicholas Pagones	...	John
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Thomas Arthur
Pete Brown	...	Skateboard Gangster
Billy Burke
Adam Eastwood	...	Max
Michael A. Jackson	...	Zach
Alyce LaTourelle	...	Jennie
Tim Noah	...	Winston
Renee Parent
Whitey Shapiro
Brian T Short	...	Phantom Skater
Kirk B.R. Woller	...	Steve / Stephan

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Seattle, Washington, USA

Fishing in a tea-cup

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Winston has a problem. His overactive imagination keeps affecting his daily life in the most unfortunate way. After having a dream of being a rock star riding a tiny motorcycle, Winston tumbles down the stairs on a bicycle while his parents shake their heads. At school, during a science class, Winston imagines he's a mad scientist and accidentally causes an explosion by combining the wrong chemicals. When a girl gives him a kiss only to make fun of him, Winston experiences a voyage on imaginary clouds that leads to more trouble in real life... No wonder other students and teachers treat Winston with contempt, thinking he's either crazy or on drugs. Even Winston's only friend tells him he must spend more time in reality and start to worry about some job that would be suitable for such a daydreamer. However, Winston can't help it. With his funny clothes and funny hat, carrying around his old guitar-case without ever playing the guitar in front of other people, he goes through another series of daydreams that are so intense they practically prevent Winston from taking part in everyday activities. During one of his daydreams, Winston somehow establishes a mind-connection with a girl named Jennie and those two experience an adventure with imaginary gang of kidnappers and a rescue-team consisting of kids on skateboards. Jennie starts to care about Winston who has to prepare a mandatory speech in order to finish high school, but doesn't know where to start. After another daydream involving Winston, Jenny and a rock band, our daydreamer is expelled from school. Just when Winston tosses his guitar in the garbage can and his life seems to be in ruins, Zach the Caretaker visits him in a dream and shows him how to fish in a tea cup and become a daredreamer. Winston returns to school the next day and instead of giving a speech, he earns respect of others by demonstrating his musical abilities... The movie contains wide variety of colorful sets for musical and dance numbers taking place while Winston daydreams. Winston assumes different identities, he becomes a rock star with a limousine and crowds of fans, a mad scientist in a laboratory where people are repaired in order to fit into society or a tough cop pursuing a bunch of criminals led by Winston's teacher. Finally, Winston plays a song in front of the whole class and Zach contributes a saxophone solo... The cover of VHS released in the Czech Republic 17 years ago says: "The movie that dares to be different." While not extraordinary, it is certainly a watchable musical that uses several inventive visual ideas, such as Zach fishing in an over-sized tea cup or artificial clouds in the swimming pool representing heaven.