Racheal Cain's directorial debut, Somnium, is an interesting piece that tries to blur the line between dream and reality, but one that pushes the science fiction and horror elements into the background far enough that those coming looking for something special might be left a little disappointed.
Somnium tells the story of Gemma (Chloë Levine), a young woman from a small town in Georgia who moves to LA to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She moves her small pile of possessions into a run down apartment, and begins hunting for jobs, both acting and not. Her desperate need for work eventually leads her to Somnium, a building with a help wanted sign hanging out front. With no knowledge of what the place does, she walks inside and manages to sweettalk herself a job; she's desperate for money after all, so why be picky about where you're working?
Gemma learns that Somnium is a special sleep therapy centre where people pay to be put into sleep states for weeks at a time and to have the staff at Somnium pump their brans with specially crafted dreams. The aim is to shape their perception of reality and give them their desires, whether that's money, fame, or love. What does this mean, do these dreams become fake memories, does it drive their new waking life like hypnotic suggestion, does it alter reality? The film never really goes into this, nor does it explain how a small four person team in a kind of old looking private clinic in LA has such advanced, potentially world changing technology. All that Gemma, and the audience, need to worry about is her night shifts baby sitting the sleeping patients.
Whilst spending her nights alone in the clinic with the sleepers, Gemma focuses her days on her own dream, and attends auditions. From what we see of her she's a great actress, and her auditions go well, but ultimately don't seem to go anywhere, and she's soon running out of money, and losing out on hope. She finds potential help in the form of Brooks (Jonathon Schaech), an older man 'in the business' who says he can help her career. The initial reaction of expecting Brooks to be some kind of predator, either trying to pressure Gemma into sex or some other dark path, never really materialises, and the film instead leaves you to make up your own mind about whether or not he should be trusted.
During these scenes Gemma begins to notice strange noises in her apartment, and begins to see a monstrous, twisted figure in the dark rooms of Somnium in the deep of night. Sadly, these elements are mostly secondary for much of the film, and whilst Gemma's journey and experiences in LA are entertaining enough, and played wonderfully by Levine, they're not exactly what the film was selling itself on in trailers. I was honestly pretty surprised and disappointed at how few and far between the horror elements were in the actual film, and pretty much ever moment in the trailer is what you get in the final film. It feels like Somnium sold itself as a horror piece, only to pull the rug out and give viewers a drama instead.
There are some great performances in Somnium, and the film is both competently written and shot, but when I spend the entire film thinking 'the horror stuff must be coming soon' only for the end credits to roll I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed. And maybe that's just me, and other people will get on much better with it than I do; especially if you know these elements are going to be light going in. Somnium labels itself as a science fiction film, but the sci-fi is more of a seasoning to the main course.
Somnium is available on digital download now.
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