Morricone Fans
莫里康内爱好者
EN Home
CN Home
Chronology
Music Overview
Film Overview
VIP Apply
VIP Login
Film Enjoy
Study
Music Sheet
Maestro
Payment
Old EN
Old CN
Personal Page
Resources Delivey
Newest Page
SiteMap
Notice
Lyrics
RSS
Guestbook
Contact
About Us
TOP 120 Music
Morricone Resources Library
Global free resources
Morricone ringtones
Mobile Website
ENG Community
---------------------------
------------------------
English --> engmovie-000 --> engmovies-051
Same CN
 
  A movie with Morricone's music
 engmov-051 What dreams may come (1998)
The movie was provided by Philippine friend Jing
98-10
Relative music page
IMDB(English)
IMDB(Chinese)
Note
"-official" is in official catalogue
What dreams may come (1998)
What dreams may come (1998)
About the movie from IMDB

Overview

Vincent Ward

Writers (WGA):Richard Matheson (novel)
Ronald Bass (screenplay)

Release Date:2 October 1998 (USA) more
Genre:Drama / Fantasy / Romance more
Tagline:After life there is more. The end is just the beginning.
Plot Summary:Chris Neilson dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife... more
Plot Synopsis:View full synopsis. (warning! may contain spoilers)
Plot Keywords:Bizarre / Death Of Husband / Visual Poetry / Underwater Scene / Title Based On Shakespeare more
Awards:Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations more

Additional Details

MPAA:Rated PG-13 for thematic elements involving death, some disturbing images and language.
Parents Guide:Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:113 min
Country:USA / New Zealand
Language:English
Color:Color
Aspect Ratio:2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:DTS / Dolby Digital / SDDS

Synopsis

Chris Neilson dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he dies, his wife, Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven. Written by Scott Huntsman {guru@movieguru.com}

Doctor Chris Nielson meets his true soul mate Annie, marries her and has two children. The children die in a car accident, and Chris dies four years after that. Ending up in heaven, he is guided by friendly guardian angel Albert through the afterlife, and he is reunited with his dog and children. But when he finds out his wife had committed suicide, he desperately searches for her spirit, journeying through Heaven and Hell along the way. Written by L. Lim {penny1@es.co.nz}

Soul mates Chris and Annie couldn't be happier, having married each other and had two wonderful children. Unforutnately, tragedy strikes when they lose them both in a car accident, and then again for Annie many years later when Chris is killed in another accident. What Chris finds is a Paradise unlike anything he ever imagined, where he is guided by Albert, the first doctor he interned under and is helped to see his children once again. Unfortunately, when Annie takes her life in despair, she does not venture to the same plane of existence. Taking it upon himself to rescue her, Chris ventures into the pit of Hell with Albert and a Tracker to save his wife from the damnation she doesn't even know she is forcing on herself. Written by Curly Q. Link

After the death of their two children, Dr. Chris Nielson and his wife Annie find continuing their lives fraught with difficulties, especially for Annie. When Chris dies and goes to Heaven he meets Albert and discovers that Heaven is even more wondrous than anything he could have imagined. However, Chris's death is the last straw for Annie and in her madness commits suicide and journeys to a place very different from Chris. On discovering Annie's misfortune, Chris forces Albert to enlist the help of The Tracker and together they journey into the depths of despair to discover the destiny of Annie's soul and attempt a rescue. Written by Mark Smith {msmith@osi.co.uk}

After suffering the loss of their two children, Chris and Annie barely survive. When Chris also passes Annie's grief is unbearable. Although Chris is reborn in Heaven, without his Annie there is no Heaven. Annie's attempts to go on fail and she takes her own life. She go's to Hell. Not even death can keep Chris from his soulmate as he goes beyond Heaven and Hell to rescue his immortal love. (See here)

 
 
A brief-1

After the death of their two children, Dr. Chris Nielson ('Robin Williams' ) and his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) find continuing their lives fraught with difficulties, especially for Annie. When Chris dies and goes to Heaven he meets Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and discovers that Heaven is even more wondrous than anything he could have imagined. However, Chris's death is the last straw for Annie and in her madness commits suicide and journeys to a place very different from Chris. On discovering Annie's misfortune, Chris forces Albert to enlist the help of The Tracker ('Max von Sydow' ) and together they journey into the depths of despair to discover the destiny of Annie's soul and attempt a rescue. (more)

A brief-2
"A whole family lost to car crashes. It's enough to make a person buy a bike."

Some films rely heavily on the visual aesthetic as opposed to narrative strength. Critics often like to lambaste this, but there's nothing inherently wrong with the approach. Film is, after all, a visual medium, is it not? Why can't the notion of a moving painting be utilized as a focal point in a movie? What Dreams May Come shows you why it can.

As a narrative, the film is lacking, only because it goes a little over the top emotionally. I don't mean to say that it's a bad story. In fact, I rather liked the story here. But this film isn't about the story - it's about the beautiful vistas against which that story plays out. It is, more than any other movie, a painting on film. That said, the story plays out like this. Chris Nielsen (played by Robin Williams) loses his two children in an auto accident. This tragedy is compounded when he too dies in an accident, leaving his beloved wife Annie behind to mourn them all. But, newly arrived in the afterlife, Nielsen refuses to give up on staying with Annie, and so he goes on a journey through Heaven (and Hell) to find her.

Unfortunately, Williams lets his performance get too sappy at times, and seems to go too far. But when people say this film is a beautiful piece of cinema, they are absolutely correct. Scenery of epic proportions, with unparalleled visual magnitude, abounds here. It really is very stunning and, on this level, the film is the visual masterpiece some have referred to it as. An interesting bit of trivia is that this film is one of the few shot on Fuji Velvia film stock. This particular film stock is actually used more frequently for landscape still-photography, due to its very high color saturation. Usually, the stock is only used in filmmaking when special effects are involved, and it's obvious why it was used here.

The DVD version of What Dreams May Come, for all of these reasons, has a tall task in bringing this visual epic home. But I can safely say that this DVD does a bang-up job. The black levels are perfect and the colors come through richly and with tremendous vibrancy... but not too much. Film grain isn't a problem either, and neither is digital artifacting. The anamorphic transfer is beautiful with great detail. Occasionally, some of the smaller background details are a bit distorted, but this is hardly worth mentioning. This is really a stunning picture.

The audio on the disc is also solid. While the sound effects aren't a pillar on which this film is built, they sound good enough when they're in play. Where the audio really comes through is in the heavenly (pardon the reference) score by composer Michael Kamen. The music perfectly compliments the stunning vistas and adds a touching accentuation to the emotional chord of the film. Note that the DVD automatically defaults to Dolby 2.0 Surround as opposed to the 5.1 channel mix, unless you specifically select otherwise.

So... what extras may come, here? This is a special edition and, true to form, it boasts a solid array of supplements. The director's commentary track is good, and I must say something about his accent here. Vincent Ward has this accent that just sounds awesome and is perfect when juxtaposed next to this film. That sounds strange, I know, but it's true. This commentary good, although it does sound scripted at times. Ward basically focuses on motivations and hardly ever mentions any technical or filming insights. Along with the commentary, you also get an alternate ending (it's safe to say that Ward made the right call in not using it). Some behind-the-scenes footage is included, as are extensive featurette-style examinations of the visual effects in the film (one note: take a look around and see if you can catch Peter Pan and company flying around during some of the Heaven sequences). And you get the usual trailers, cast & crew bios and production notes. There's also DVD-ROM content, but it isn't really worth mentioning, so I won't.

What does deserved to be mentioned, however, is the menu system. It's billed as a "dual interactive menu screen", which basically means that you can pick between a heavenly and a hellish motif. That's really the only distinctly defining quality about them. But the menus do look brilliant. Whoever designed them deserves whatever kind of award they give out for this stuff.

What Dreams May Come is a film that sort of missed the boat on story. But it still remains a beautifully dramatic piece, with the right amount of tragedy, serious issues and the obligatory happy ending. The visuals take up the mantle dropped by the script, and they do so with such style and epic magnificence that the film becomes memorable and worthwhile on this point alone. The DVD is also a great value, with all of the extras and slick design you'd expect. Give it a rent at the very least.

Brad Pilcher (more)

 
 
RMVB format 923Kbps English dub Chinese subtitle  113 minutes 
 
See a part of the movie from CC union (8'31")
 
 
 
Some important page in the old area
The old chronology edited in 2009
The Films
Music Audition
A special column of China Morricone Fans Association
A column of general music counselor of Morriunion
A column of Morricone's music sung by songsters
Morricone's music played by the famous artists
All updated webpage for 10 years
Free resources in the world
About"Chi Mai"
A study on Morricone 2002-2010 six concerts in Europe,USA and Asia
The formal 20 sheets music of "The legend of 1900"
A exchange page for friends of requesting score music
Friends who are practicing piano
The webmaster's talk
Morricone news in China
About mobile WAP site
Morricone's MIDI music and download of its ring for your mobile
The important web sites of Morricone's work in the world
BBC-HVF A interview to Morricone
Ennio Morricone 2009 Beijing concert
Ennio Morricone 2010 Shanghai EXPO concert
Allonsanfan research
La Califfa research
Death rides a horse research
Metello research
Morricone's 100 famous music
Visiting Imola again after 13 years
Sacco e Vanzetti research
Philatelic exploration round the world
Philatelic matters for transfer
Site Map
Review my favorite western music of last 30 years
Look back the past by way of the satllite map
About Us
Add to Google
Mobile Site (CN-EN)
Home Page (ENG)
Philately (ENG)
Dual-use Guestbook for PC and mobile phone
put on record: 苏ICP备11039856号 Start from August 8,2003 All right reserved
Contact Us  qilingren@hotmail.com   webmaster@morricone.cn    
All pages are only for visitor's personal enjoy and study