Dimland
If you have ever wondered what a Hayao Miyazaki film might look like as a small budget indie film, then Dimland is the film for you. The first full length feature directed by Peter Collins Campbell captures the feeling of mystical melancholy that permeates so many of Miyazaki’s animated movies.
Brynn, played by Martha Brown with a mumblecore weariness that feels very relatable in these quarantine days, wakes up one morning with her boyfriend Laika depressed and lost. Laika, played with a combination of caring and distance by Odinaka Malachi Ezeokoli, feels much the same. They spend their days trying to fill a void in their existence with whatever drugs or booze are at hand. The couple is at the end of their rope and after scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, Brynn sees her Uncle’s cabin where she used to go as a child. They decide to take a trip in order to see if they can feel something again.
Much to their dismay upon arrival, the cabin has been remodelled and modernized. Despite being denied the comfort of nostalgia and retreat to childhood, they decide to stay. Nothing much changes for them until they meet the film's third main character Rue.
Rue, played with a gentle and innocent creepiness by Nate Wise, is a strange being that eventually Brynn remembers from her childhood. Rue is a genuinely fascinated character that exists as a contradiction. He is both comforting and somewhat frightening, he is caring but creepy. His high-pitched voice sounds almost whiny, but at the same time like that of a lost child. Laika is immediately put off by Rue’s presence and more so as Brynn begins to spend most of her time with Rue.
Ezeokoli does an incredible job of turning a character, who could very easily be a one note almost villain, into something more complicated and interesting. Both he and Brown have similar contradictions to Rue. Neither are wholly nice or mean. Both have been extremely damaged by life and a world that doesn’t care, and react by cycling between lashing out and retreating. The way their relationship progresses isn’t particularly surprising, but it feels lived in and real rather than cliche.
The idea of connection runs through the whole film. Our connection to the past, the present, the future, each other, and nature itself. It’s a film that’s thought provoking and surprisingly healing. I understood every moment on screen in a way that I was not prepared for going into the movie. Brynn’s journey with Rue into the magical realm that gives the film it’s namesake echoes other stories like the Narnia books, or the Bridge to Terabithia, but it does so without ever tripping over into treacly sentimentality. The magic and emotion of the film feel perfectly in balance.
The film is not without its flaws. The camerawork is generally good, but there are a number of places where it feels too shaky or pointed in the wrong place for what’s going on. The meandering pace of the film mostly works, but there are times when it lets the viewer drift a bit too much for such a small and emotional story.
Dimland is unique. It’s a melancholy fable filled with raw emotion and laced with small doses of wonder and magic. It’s the story of connections and contradictions. I can’t really think of anything to truly compare it to outside of, as I mentioned earlier, the general vibe of many of Studio Ghibli’s films, but on a much smaller scale. It’s not perfect, and it’s probably not quite for everyone, but if you’re open to letting just a small bit of magic into your life, and you’ve been feeling the weight of the world we live in, then give Dimland a shot.
Dimland is available on VOD today from Gravitas Ventures. You can rent or purchase the movie digitally on Amazon here.
