Daniela Forever

Nacho Vigalondo’s (Colossal, TIFF ’16) signature blend of wit, whimsy, and darkly provocative allegory is in full effect in his latest film, which soulfully ruminates on love, grief, and the toxic ramifications of making all your dreams come true.

We meet Nick (Henry Golding) in Madrid, adrift in a deep-seated malaise over the sudden death of his lover Daniela (Beatrice Grannò). A concerned friend enrolls him in a clinical trial for a drug that imbues its participants with totally lucid dreams — in an effort to sublimate his woe — and the experiment goes awry when Nick fails to adhere to the prescription. With his newfound ability to control his dreams, he sets out to rebuild his relationship with Daniela in an idealized fantasy of his own design.

Articulating Nick’s fog of depression by shooting the “real world” in affectless digital video and a boxy ratio, Vigalondo delightfully distinguishes Nick’s dreams by expanding their frames to vibrant high-definition cinemascope, with their subjects surreally bathed in a warm glow of Mediterranean sunlight, no matter the time of day. But while these dreams are at first limited to the boundaries of Nick’s own memories, with Daniela appearing as a mere palimpsest of the woman Nick loved, the verisimilitude of this realm enriches with each slumber, and Daniela begins to exhibit a gradual, disquieting autonomy that raises thorny ethical implications.

What first proceeds in the spirit of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, soon recalls Inception and Solaris as reality is torn asunder, and Vigalondo cements his status as a gifted genre fabulist. Few are as adept in deploying high-concept science fiction to so cannily probe the human condition.

PETER KUPLOWSKY

Content advisory: mature themes, drug use, sexually suggestive themes