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Dreams of a Life (2012)

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Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 7

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Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

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Movie Info

Would anyone miss you? Nobody noticed when Joyce Vicent died in her bedsit above a shopping mall in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, surrounded by Christmas presents she had been wrapping, and with the TV still on. Newspaper reports offered few details of her life -- not even a photograph. Interweaving interviews with imagined scenes from Joyce's life is not only a portrait of Joyce but a portrait on London in the eighties -- the city, music and race. It is a

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Documentary, Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

Directed By: Carol Morley

Written By: Carol Morley

In Theaters: Aug 3, 2012 Limited

On DVD: Dec 11, 2012

Box Office:$6.6k

Strand Releasing

Dreams of a Life Trailer & Photos

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Cast

Zawe Ashton
Joyce, Joyce Vincent
Alix Luka-Cain
Young Joyce
Neelam Bakshi
Mother
Cornell John
Father
Kelly Agbowu
Sister
Frances Cooper
Sister
Nadia Di Mambro
Sister
Sophia Leonie
Sister
Darren Elliot Holme
Bailiff
Diveen Henry
Housing Officer
Jay Simpson
Caretaker
Joanna Brookes
Cleaner
Jonathan Harden
Cleaner, Eddie
Angela Sims
Cleaner
K'Juan Whitton
Young Boy
Robert Cawsey
Strippogram
Lee Colley
Studio Engineer
Tom Nearney
Musician
Michael Anthony
Dancer
Alex Gatehouse
Dancer
Sam Wardroper
Dancer
David Ajao
Dancer
Adam Bernard
Dancer
Darren Davidson
Dancer
Pearl Smith
Woman in Pub
Polly Kemp
Refuge Worker
Sarah Dulley
Nurse
Daren Elliot Holmes
Bailiff
Ki'juan Whitton
Kyle

Critic Reviews for Dreams of a Life

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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (7)

For all its subtext about identity and London's social fabric, "Dreams of a Life" leaves too many blanks and is ultimately more frustrating than rewarding.

August 2, 2012 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Stephen Holden

New York Times

Top Critic

A riveting tale of a onetime vivacious personality, described by those who knew her as "stunning," "lovely," and "very well liked," but who nevertheless died alone, friendless and seemingly missed by nobody.

August 1, 2012 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Charles Gant

Variety

Top Critic

Left with barely any there there, Morley compensates with long reenactments starring look-alike Zawe Ashton that are never quite convincing but instead suck more air out of the haunting vacuum left behind in Vincent's wake.

July 31, 2012 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Top Critic

Disappointing documentary-fiction hybrid on the true story of a woman found dead and alone in an apartment three years after her demise. A pile-up of unanswered questions and unidentified witnesses frustrates more than it intrigues.

August 6, 2012 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

| Comment

Doris Toumarkine

Film Journal International

Dreams of a Life unintentionally amounts to a mean-spirited snooze.

August 3, 2012 Full Review Source: indieWIRE

| Comment

Eric Kohn

indieWIRE

Director Morley has at least restored something of a soul to her subject.

July 31, 2012 Full Review Source: Time Out New York

| Comment

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

Dreams of a Life succeeds in making its point about the unkowability of the people in our lives, but there isn't quite enough substance here to fully sustain the film.

July 29, 2012 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Andrew Schenker

Slant Magazine

Stunningly perplexing ... while it does leave you terribly bummed out in the end, it also leaves you with a whole lot of questions.

March 19, 2012 Full Review Source: Movies.com

| Comment

Christopher Campbell

Movies.com

It's a fascinating film, skilfully assembled, and one is inevitably reminded of Citizen Kane and Rashomon...

December 18, 2011 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment

Philip French

Observer [UK]

What results is an impressionistic study of how the big city can envelope a person until there is almost nothing left except what bits and pieces acquaintances can remember.

December 16, 2011 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment

Derek Malcolm

This is London

It is necessarily incomplete but still constructs a haunting portrait of a woman who deserved a better life and death.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Express

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Allan Hunter

Daily Express

Makes for queazy viewing.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: The Skinny

| Comment

Jamie Dunn

The Skinny

She may have been forgotten in life, but Joyce Vincent will haunt anyone who watches this astonishing film.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Radio Times

| Comment

Lucy Barrick

Radio Times

The problem - and it's a glaring one - is that Morley imposes a creative stamp on the material that keeps getting in the way.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph

| Comment

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph

It isn't just the mystery that mesmerises, it is the misery or the apprehension of it: the sense of some untold, secret pain that had been Vincent's constant companion.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Financial Times

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Nigel Andrews

Financial Times

Watching it is an almost claustrophobic experience, but a very powerful and moving one.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

Morley's film is a mirror. How much do we know ourselves? How much do others know us? It works on the ego as much as it works on our empathy.

December 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

Hard to recall a film that lodges in the memory quite like this. Unmissable.

December 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Little White Lies

| Comment

Ashley Clark

Little White Lies

Impressively assembled and exhaustively researched, this is a grimly fascinating, deeply upsetting documentary-slash-mystery that raises some uncomfortable questions.

December 14, 2011 Full Review Source: ViewLondon

| Comment

Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

Morley's documentary is as much about our own fears and conditions of connection, as it is about a woman who slipped from sight.

December 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Scotsman

| Comment

Siobhan Synnot

Scotsman

Audience Reviews for Dreams of a Life

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One of the most haunting films I've ever seen. A lot of relationship, community and social issues are raised here as peoples emotions, reactions and memories are all laid bare. The reconstruction of the clearing out of the flat, littered with memories is very effective amid recreations of Joyce Vincent singing as a child and wrapping Christmas gifts the night before she died. The interviews of Joyce Vincent's friends are quite telling of the sort of person she was, all of them speak about her in a positive light but it is her ex-boyfriend Martin who is the most compelling - a really nice guy full of frustration, guilt and sadness that makes for one of the saddest endings to film ever. Powerful and emotional but never dwelling on how she died but very much telling a story of who the person was and why she shouldn't have died, which is a much better way of being remembered and is a life lesson for all of us. A must see.

April 2, 2012

Anthony Lawrie

Super Reviewer

"Would anyone miss you?"

A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.

REVIEW
I remember learning about the discovery of Joyce Vincent's body a few years ago and thinking what a sad and disturbing news story it was, almost beggaring belief in present day civilised society. This superbly and sensitively crafted drama documentary from Carol Morley answers a mere handful of the many questions which inevitably followed while inevitably producing a myriad of others. It is a salutary reminder that life is both precious and mysterious, things are often not what they seem and how we all think we know our friends but in reality our comprehension is limited to what we are actually permitted to see and understand.

The most refreshing and at the same time most disturbing impression given is that Joyce's friends appear to be genuine, caring people but despite this, she still slipped through the emotional and physical net which binds humanity together. The power of this film makes the loss almost as tangible to the audience as it must have felt to Martin. It reminds us that although time is often regarded as a great unhurried and invisible healer, it can also be corrosively destructive.

March 31, 2012

Lorenzo von Matterhorn

Super Reviewer

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