Film Reviews

Dreamer

• Rating:
• Director: John Gatins
• Starring: Dakota Fanning
• Details: US, 98mins, PG.

Scion of a once-great horse family that has fallen on hard times, young Cale Crane (Fanning) dreams of having a race horse on her father's farm again, but her family don't have enough money to purchase a new horse. Things take a turn for the worse when Cale's father Ben (Russell), a horse trainer, gets fired and takes home lame horse Sonador (Spanish for Dreamer) to the empty, rundown horse farm. As Cale struggles to nurse Sonador back to health with the hope that she will one day race again, her dysfunctional family also struggle to become a caring loving unit - and in the face of the girl's determination, they pull together. Winner of The Truly Moving Picture Award for artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life at the Heartland Film Festival, Dreamer is not as bad as it sounds and has some major redeeming factors in Kristofferson as the grandfather, while the always dependable Russell delivers a warm and caring performance. But it is little Dakota Fanning's picture and the cast seem to understand this, giving her plenty of room to steal every scene she is in

Review by Gavin Burke