THE DREAM CATCHER (2000) ***

Reviewed 9/16/00

Edward Radtke's The Dream Catcher is an impressive achievement for an American indie. It apparently takes its inspiration from the more contemplative style of American 1970s realism (for which Five Easy Pieces is an example) than the rest of this generation's films whose patron saint is Quentin Tarantino. Shot on super-16mm across half a dozen states for under $1 million, this road trip movie looks better than many pictures shot for twenty times that amount (thanks to cinematographer Terry Stacey). The Dream Catcher follows two hitchhikers -- Fred (Maurice Compte), who's trying to deal with a pregnant girlfriend he left in Philadelphia, and Albert (Paddy Connor), an escaped juvenile looking to reach his long lost mother in Reno, Nevada. The theme concerns absent parents, and if there's a few too many scenes that announce their self-importance or scream their symbolism (no more caged bird metaphors please), the vast majority of the film succeeds in simply capturing life on the road and provides all the exquisite beauty one expects from a road picture. All of the major cast is terrific with Paddy Connor the standout.  Although it's getting a week-long run at Walter Reade here in New York, The Dream Catcher deserves a distributor a lot more than the latest Tarantino knockoff.