Directed and penned by Ena Sendijarević, "Sweet Dreams" is a unique, albeit flawed, film exploring the colonial era through the lens of dark comedy and absurd satire. The narrative unfolds on a secluded Indonesian island circa 1900, where a sugar baron named Jan has supposedly passed away, resulting in conflicts over the succession of his estate with no body to confirm his demise. The key narrative element involves Jan's illegitimate son with an Indonesian worker, Karel. Upon Jan's mysterious death, his son Cornelis and pregnant wife Josefien leave the Netherlands to resolve matters. Turmoil ensues as Jan's will leaves his entire estate to Karel, leading to an explosion of anger, resentment, and underhanded scheming. At the same time, a plantation worker, Reza, has been stirring unrest among his fellow workers over wage injustice and becomes an impactful figure in the narrative. Despite its interesting premise, "Sweet Dreams" suffers from glaring obviousness in the initial segments, spelling out colonial injustices in glaring dramatic fashion, which unfortunately errs on the side of redundant. However, the narrative gains momentum once Jan acknowledges Karel's inheritance, resulting in a scenario reminiscent of Coen brothers’ movies where delusional individuals plot against each other and receive their deserving ends. While the first half's aesthetic qualities justified their existence, the latter half took on a more lyrical and fantastical tone. The narrative transitioned into sequences with a compelling power to captivate, perhaps losing interest in satire and slapstick along the way. In conclusion, "Sweet Dreams," though initially demonstrating its points in a heavy-handed manner, ultimately finds its stride and redeems itself by embracing a dreamlike narrative that harnesses the power of visual narration.
