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Actress Mika Andrews and her filmmaker boyfriend Louis Digman struggle through the trenches of the entertainment industry to succeed in “Hollywood.” The film follows their ups and downs as a young couple, supporting each other in an often heart-breaking industry.
Shot in a realistic, documentary-like fashion, Traplight Media brings us “Wishing for a Dream,” a story many striving and starving artists know all too well. Written and directed by Jared Cohn, the story follows the life of aspiring actress Mika Andrews (Sara Malakul Lane) and her equally aspiring filmmaker boyfriend, Louis Digman (Jared Cohn), as they march through the trenches of Hollywood, with their dreams before them and bad experiences behind them. With such a strong premise, and the ability to relate with so many, the execution of this story was disappointing.
“Wishing for a Dream” is a two-steps-backward one-step-forward type of story, as we ride along on Mika and Louis’ journey and watch them experience significant failure. In the cutthroat, die-hard world of the entertainment industry, it’s a realistic story with a promising premise, but it never really delivers. With a character experiencing constant and continual failure, naturally there should be some hope or rise to the top. Instead, we watch Mika trudge through life as she becomes a restless insomniac, resorting to drugs to help her cope with life, and on top of her so-called miserable existence, there’s not one ounce of depth to her character. It’s evident that the journey of her acting career is affecting her identity and physical health, but it seems like she has no motivation or drive to succeed. Her whiny attitude and self-depreciation truly made me wish for the movie to be over. I didn’t even root for her to get out of her rut. I wasn’t surprised when she failed and the movie had to fight for my interest. With that being said, not all is lost. Without giving too much away, there is some hope for Mika and Louis at the end of the tunnel.
What the movie does exhibit well is the struggle for relationships to thrive in a tense and stressful environment. In Hollywood, marriages and relationships that stick together are admired and respected. Both Mika and Louis face continual failure and false hope, and yet they stick it out together and although the acting is unconvincing and sub-par in several places, seeing their relationship thrive on screen gives the film a little bit of light.
Here’s another plus. When Mika is experiencing the effects of the drugs on her mind and health, the hallucination scenes are effective and disturbing, so hats off to the editor and director for piecing that together. I always admire a good hallucination scene that makes us feel like we’re going crazy, too.
The realistic shooting style is also a creative concept, but many of the shots seem unconnected and loosely constructed. Overall, it seems as if the movie can’t tell if it wants to be a documentary or a narrative film.
“Wishing for a Dream” is innovative at its initial concept. It sheds light on a demanding and oppressive career path, and the storyline itself will attract many people who relate with the driven, dream-empowered journey. But at the end of the day, I want to relate with a character onscreen who will push and motivate me to pursue my dreams. In other words, I don’t want to just “wish for a dream,” I want to see it happen.
Available now on Video On Demand
