browseDream On (1991)
Amber Films (Producer)
115 mins, 16mm & 35mm
Colour/optical
Feature film
Available as VHS
Most original film scenario, La Baule, 1991
Public Prize, Créteil, Paris, 1992
Royal Television Society Best Network Programme, 1992
Prix Europa Television Programme of the Year - Special Commendation: Fiction, 1992
Prix Futura Berlin Television Fiction, 1993
Blue Ribbon, American Film & Video Association, 1993
When she arrives from Donegal on her ramshackle motor bike and sidecar, Peggy O'Rourke certainly puts the cat among the pigeons in North Shields. Her son, Bert, the loan shark who runs the pub, and has his finger in several pies, is not thrilled to see her. The mysterious Kevin watches her constantly. But the women in the pub darts team warm to her immediately, especially Julie, Rita and Kathy, beset with problems in their own lives, and looking for answers.
The story is set in North Shields, a small coastal town in the North East of England, and is structured around three weekly darts matches. In between the matches we observe the lives of the characters.
Using a blend of magic, fantasy and dreams, the film treads a knife-edge between humour and tragedy. The audience is drawn into the personal dramas; battering, alcohol, drugs and abuse are juxtaposed with the camaraderie of the darts nights where the women come together with a common aim: to win and leave their troubles at home.
Peggy, irreverent, funny, bossy and sexy brings an image of an older woman rarely seen on the big screen. She interferes unashamedly, and with mixed consequences she helps Julie, Rita and Kathy understand that they have the power to change their lives if they really want to.
AMBER FILMS
Made under the auspices of the ACTT Workshop Declaration with financial assistance from Northern Arts and Channel Four Television.
Cast includes: Maureen Harold, Amber Styles, Anna-Maria Gascoigne, Pat Leavy
REVIEWS
A kind of magic realism of the cinema where documentary grit blends into dream, mysticism and fantasy ...this multi-layered, even contradictory framework best describes how we make sense of our lives in the 90's ...the women deal with their situations with resignation and resilience out of which, later, comes determination to change their lives. Sylvia Hines, Mediawise
A radical departure for Amber... in the emphasis on feelings rather than work... what it is like to be a woman enduring a lover's beatings rather than live alone... Amber Styles gives an extraordinary performance as a woman forever willing to give her man a second chance. Barbara Noreen, The Guardian
Breaks new ground in the realms of tragedy, comedy and fantasy. Gail Walker, Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Blending magic, fantasy and day to day life it may well come as a surprise to those who have grown used to Amber's powerful documentary approach to drama. It isn't a move away from realism, however. Dreams are part of people's lives and the film is attempting to open up that richness of experience ... when times get tough clairvoyants can take on a special significance. Graeme Rigby, The Page, Northern Echo