Lisa Laman's Bite Sized Reviews: The Weight and Dreams in Nightmares

Howdy folks! Lisa Laman here, how about two capsule reviews for arthouse titles that either recently debuted in theaters or are preparing to reach multiplexes?

The Weight

Immediately, The Weight made me feel like I was watching a cross between a 30s drama and a 50s noir. Perhaps any feature chronicling chain gang prisoners smashing rocks in the Great Depression era will conjure I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang memories. It wasn’t just surface level visual trappings, though, that thrusted me back to films like The Big Heat. The Weight effectively evokes the artistry and evocative atmosphere dominating those 20th century films.  

Down-on-his-luck mechanic Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) and his daughter Penny (Avy Berry-Worrall) were already facing tremendous turmoil after getting evicted while at church. Then Murphy crossed some cruel, violent-prone cops and ended up in prison. This incarcerated man only has a short time before his child is put up for adoption, and he never sees her again. This makes an offer from Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe) extra enticing. That offer? Murphy and three other prisoners will move gold bars across rough forest terrain.

If no bars go missing and they arrive on time, they all get their freedom. While on the road, though, the vivid personalities of Murphy and the other prisoners inevitably begin clashing. More ominously, the dehumanizing approach to people emanating from every Weight authority figure grows increasingly inescapable.

Ethan Hawke’s one of the best American performers around. He’s spent decades reaffirming that reality. However, comparing his Weight work here to his Blue Moon turn as Lorenz Hart from just last year really solidifies his quiet range. Whereas Hawke’s Hart was a boisterous soul with a witty retort and story always on the tip of his tongue (while sorrow lurked beyond his eyes), his Samuel Murphy is a palpably agonized soul. Even before he’s locked up, Hawke makes the man’s years of anguish hauntingly tangible. Profoundly believable world-weariness permeates this performance. The man defaulting to whispers and withdrawn body language achingly reflects this reality. 

Last year, Hawke rendered a playwright of the past with magnetic and emotionally rich externalization. In The Weight, he proves equally adept at more understated acting tendencies caked in dirt and regret. The range here is remarkable. That microcosm of Hawke’s acting prowess ensures The Weight’s dramatic anchor is mighty engrossing. 

The Weight’s intimate scope lets this performance and the distinctive personalities of the other prisoner characters flourish. Much of the films runtime is about folks like Indigenous woman Anna (Julia Jones), leftist Singh (Avi Nash), and Scandinavian immigrant Olson (Lucas Lynggaad Tonnesen) recounting their respective pasts. These anecdotes about American authority figures dehumanizing them are hauntingly realized, especially the understated performances of Julia Jones portraying her character recounting her childhood experiences at school driven by the motto “kill the Indian, save the man.”

Such stories transpire on a mission where their superiors constantly reaffirm that gold bars are infinitely more valuable than any human lives. Looking out for oneself and stigmatizing “the other” is the norm in this land. The pervasiveness of those tendencies, and how they inevitably lead to rot, fuel much of The Weight’s tension. Meanwhile, emphasizing the humanity of characters like Murphy and Anna accentuates the effectiveness of that suspense.

Director Patrick McKinley and screenwriters Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines certainly come up with some enjoyably realized Weight sequences certain to make people hold their breath. A scene where Murphy tries helping a jeopardized comrade only to end up stuck underwater is especially sublime. This set piece’s timing and steady introduction of new sources of conflict are both top-notch.

If there's a drawback to the film, it's just that McKinley and cinematographer Matteo Cocco's visuals could've used extra doses of distinctiveness. The films crisply filmed, with plenty of wide shots and controlled camerawork. However, the persistent blue and grey color grading is both not super interesting to look at and too reminiscent of other movies. Some weird editing also frustrates, namely an awkward third-act cut from Murphy walking around to Anna in jeopardy. A largely strong enterprise like The Weight deserved consistently excellent imagery.

Still, despite these shortcomings, striking shots do emerge throughout The Weight. Overall, the film’s a finely tuned endeavor that’s especially impressive in its execution of both suspense and letting talented actors strut their stuff. Offering plenty of breathing room for artists like Ethan Hawke and Julia Jones to excel benefits the project to no end. Plus, The Weight’s final 15 minutes (which conclude with one of the year’s best closing lines) are tremendously successful. As if that weren’t enough, this film uses the same end credits style as Predator, where each cast member gets to be on-screen with their title card, often smiling.

The Weight just knows how to keep delivering the goods. Those awesome 30s and 50s movies would be proud.

The Weight begins playing in theaters everywhere on September 18.

Dreams in Nightmares

With their devastating 2021 directorial debut Test Pattern, filmmaker Shatara Michelle Ford immediately threw down the gauntlet as an artist worth keeping an eye on. For their next directorial effort, Ford’s gone in a fascinatingly opposite direction. The intimate gaze and emphasis on everyday interactions endure. However, their new title Dreams in Nightmares is a lighter, more comedic enterprise. Test Pattern intentionally kept its number of locations limited to reflect the horrifying circumstances its lead character endured. Nightmares, meanwhile, is a road trip feature bouncing across several different North American locales.

Ford's script focuses on longtime pals Z (Denée Benton), Tasha (Sasha Compère), and Lauren (Dezi Bing). Reuniting in New York City after Z and Tasha both lost their respective jobs, the three chums have a wonderful night out. As they're sitting in Tasha's apartment, recuperating from all the dancing and bathroom stall sex, a question keeps coming up: where is Kel (Mars Storm Rucker)? The fourth member of their friend group has been AWOL for so long. Where did they go?

A plan suddenly begins brewing. The trio will go on a road trip to try and find Kel. The hesitant, practical-oriented Tasha isn't exactly ecstatic about this idea. However, they all pile in a car and begin tracking down spots Kel might be hiding away in. This includes Kel's chipper, chatty ex Sabrina (Jasmin Savoy Brown) as well as Kel's parents, who refuse to acknowledge that their child uses they/them pronouns. Like any road trip comedy, Dreams in Nightmares sends its lead characters through outsized antics on their way to their destination.

Ford’s script, though, realizes those hijinks as deeply specific to the three leads. Poet Lauren, for instance, insists the group’s Chicago exploits include stopping by to see fellow trans lady Toni (Joss Barton) perform poetry. This produces a strikingly realized sequence where Toni recites evocative verbiage related to modern trans existence, accompanied by warmly captured footage of a trans woman navigating everyday life. This stirring mixture of words and images is like nothing else I’ll see in a 2026 movie. From Barton’s personality-drenched line deliveries to the emphasis on depicting mundane trans lady existence, this set piece is tremendous.

This detour epitomizes how Dreams in Nightmares uses the familiar road trip movie form to create an utterly unique and absorbing creation. You’ve surely seen indie comedies before where characters pile up in a car to find a friend or important person. However, focusing on these fictional individuals and performers immediately gives Dreams in Nightmares numerous idiosyncrasies. The easygoing, lived-in rapport between the three leads alone renders this a must-see.

Dezi Bing’s Lauren especially fantastically realized, especially regarding comic timing. However, communicating her role’s gung-ho demeanor without uttering a word is particularly special. A scene where the three Dreams in Nightmares leads encounter Kel’s parents initially features Lauren largely sitting silently. Even here, though, situated between Tasha and Z, Bing exudes a compelling, dedicated aura that makes it clear Lauren's brain’s always scoping the situation at hand. All the subdued build-up just makes her blunt comments towards these parents extra impactful.

Throughout Dreams in Nightmares, Dezi Bing’s engrossing whether Ford hands her externalized or deeply withdrawn material. Rucker’s screen presence is similarly transfixing. Whenever they’re on-screen, their infectious buoyancy inspires an automatic smile. Bing and Rucker’s engrossing personas crystallize how Ford and casting director Rebecca Dealy absolutely hit a bullseye assembling the Dreams in Nightmares cast. When your movie heavily focuses on long car rides or characters scouring maps in gas stations, you need talented performers to make the mundane compelling. The Dreams in Nightmares leads firmly accomplish that.

Best of all, Ford keeps impressing viewers right up until the credits roll. One of the last Dreams in Nightmares sequences depicts Z and her partner Reece (Charlie Barnett) on a crucial phone call. I’ve never seen a telephone chat rendered on-screen quite like this one, as Ford and cinematographer Ludovica Isidori toss the camera around various lovingly rendered images. Each new line inspires a cut to an image of either one or both of these characters basking in romantic sunlight. Their words are rooted in here-and-now communication. However, the visuals reflect a dreamlike bond between two people defying time.

It’s an evocative sequence as tenderly realized as it is idiosyncratic. This dedication to uniquely and memorably rendering the connections between people flows throughout Dreams in Nightmares. Like a sublime road trip with friendship, this movie lodges itself in your memory.

Dreams in Nightmares is now playing in select theaters.