Imperial Dreams

Name: Imperial Dreams
Genre: Drama
Released: February 3, 2017
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 67

2017

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): February 3, 2017 | Not Rated

Summary: Bambi (John Boyega) wants to publish his credos and chronicles and start his career the way any other normal young writer would. For Bambi, however, normal is the quandary. “Normal” means returning to Watts, Los Angeles, after a 28-month jail stint to find his young son playing next to his strung-out grandmother. It’s normal for theBambi (John Boyega) wants to publish his credos and chronicles and start his career the way any other normal young writer would. For Bambi, however, normal is the quandary. “Normal” means returning to Watts, Los Angeles, after a 28-month jail stint to find his young son playing next to his strung-out grandmother. It’s normal for the patriarch of his family to offer Bambi pills, guns, and a drug-running job as a way to welcome him home. A normal visit from his cousin involves Bambi and son performing minor surgery to extract a bullet from his arm. Bambi meets this surreal, ghetto normal with equanimity, but he knows life can’t be “normal” like this for long.… Expand

Director: Malik Vitthal

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 87 min

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Critic Reviews

The Playlist Chase Whale

Jan 26, 2014

It’s a heartwarming story of a father and son bonding, one which highlights that nothing is more powerful than family. Read full review

Geoff Berkshire

Jan 26, 2014

Even in moments that don’t ring entirely true, Boyega’s grounded performance keeps the film headed in the right direction. Read full review

Richard Brody

Jan 27, 2017

Malik Vitthal’s first feature gives rich dramatic life to a piercingly analytical view of the American way of incarceration. Read full review

Justin Lowe

Jan 26, 2014

Vitthal realizes the virtues of keeping things simple, minimizing the complexity of shots and editing to keep the focus on the characters, which constitute the strongest component of the film. Read full review

Dominick Suzanne-Mayer

Feb 6, 2017

Where Imperial Dreams occasionally wavers is in its unsubtle storytelling, which often feels at odds with Vitthal’s appealing and naturalistic direction. Read full review

The Guardian Henry Barnes

Jan 26, 2014

Vitthal's film is full of heart, but overly ambitious. He could have made it easy on himself and steered us down a much more familiar route. Instead he delivers a moralistic story that's pure in its intention and a real slog to watch. Read full review

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User Reviews

SquaredRen

Apr 16, 2017

At first I didn't buy Boyega's performance, but as the film kept going on you start to really understand how grounded that character really is. Some of us that had class partners that lived in this kind of situation (Boyega's character) in our childhood will really feel related to the story,At first I didn't buy Boyega's performance, but as the film kept going on you start to really understand how grounded that character really is. Some of us that had class partners that lived in this kind of situation (Boyega's character) in our childhood will really feel related to the story, and understand it like it was even part of our own childhood even though we weren't in that particular situation. Overall it's a good compelling story of a father wanting the best for his son.… Expand

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Spangle

Apr 11, 2017

Telling the story of a paroled convict that returns home in the inner city to his parentless son (his mother got locked up as well), Imperial Dreams shows the walls built around the inner city by "the system" to keep the impoverished locked inside. Broke and required to get a job to stay outTelling the story of a paroled convict that returns home in the inner city to his parentless son (his mother got locked up as well), Imperial Dreams shows the walls built around the inner city by "the system" to keep the impoverished locked inside. Broke and required to get a job to stay out of jail, he needs his driver's license. However, he does not have it and cannot get it because of backdue child support. While his baby mother did not file for it, it had been filed on her behalf. To pay-off the child support, he needs a job. He also needs a job to get an apartment because he and his son live in his car. Unfortunately, he needs an apartment to keep his son from social services. Now, naturally, all of this could be fixed by getting a job. Unfortunately, the cycle merely starts again. The only way to get out is to take his Uncle's offer of driving a car full of Oxycontin from Los Angeles to Portland for $4,000. Imperial Dreams asks the question; how can a man change if there are no ways for him to change?

Starring John Boyega, the film was shot in 2014 and really shows Boyega debuting the skill that landed him a role in Star Wars. Raw, powerful, and excellently displaying the conflict experienced by a man who wants to change and tries to escape by writing (even going as far as dropping off pages to be read by a publisher), but has to climb such a high wall to escape that it is nearly impossible. This is a situation where this man cannot be expected to do anything different, yet the constant presence of police, his parole officer, and social services weigh on him and force him into action even when it is impossible. Even worse, his Uncle Shrimp (Glenn Plummer) is a destructive force that pulls him back into the hood whenever it seems he may be able to get out. This is a tragic film bolstered by Boyega's performance that is emotionally raw, honest, and the right balance between moving and tough due to the demands of the character and his environment.

Well-written, Imperial Dreams' biggest issue is that it is simply not the first film to touch on these topics. Better films have come out and shown the strife in the inner city and how hard it is to make it out alive and come out ahead in the end. While the film is bolstered by Boyega's tour de force performance, the rest of it is pretty much a run-of-the-mill film about the inner city. From dead relatives, deadbeat parents, and troubling influences, there is not much light in this film, but also not much originality. It is as if Imperial Dreams just worked off of a checklist to make sure it got all of the stereotypical inner city characters before sending the film off for post-production. It is this reliance upon cliches that really holds the film back and never really lets it soar as possible.

That said, the film's crushing weight really speaks to how hard it is to get out of the hood. The second things look up for Bambi (Boyega), something goes wrong. There is this inevitability to the film that is really heart breaking. No matter what goes right, we know that in the end, Bambi will wind up back in a life of crime that he can never escape. No matter how hard he works. No matter where he turns. This is his life and nothing can change that, not even sheer will. This is really tragic to watch unfold and it is this emotional core and sense that things never change, just the faces, is really what makes Imperial Dreams click.

Though cliche and too willing to just rely upon stock characters, Imperial Dreams features an impeccable lead performance from John Boyega in a tragic and often hard to watch film that shows a man that, no matter what he does, will never achieve his dreams. If one thing goes right, three things go wrong. He cannot escape this life and keeps getting pulled back down by people who do not want to see him escape and leave them all behind. Well-written and powerfully acted, Imperial Dreams shines a light on a topic that all too often goes untouched. Though it invokes inner city cliches in the process, it is hard to deny that this film is imperative to watch and one that does an excellent job creating empathy for people stuck in a no-win situation. In many ways, it feels like a gambling movie, except Bambi and others have addiction or choice. Instead, they just keep losing.… Expand

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