In the second feature film by Nicole Dorsey, she portrays a competitive fencer who utilizes lucid dream technology to train overnight. It’s a speculative fiction set in the future. Other actors include Cush Jumbo, Manny Jacinto, James Badge Dale, and Christin Park. The film is a psychological thriller written by Imran Zaidi. It’s also worth mentioning that the film is packed with emerging Canadian talent, both in front of the camera and behind it, along with Jacinto, Zaidi, and Dorsey.
Balestra utilizes her protagonist to navigate the psyche of an oppressed woman coming to terms with what she wants in life and learning how to control it regardless of the consequences. At the beginning of the film, Joanna (Jumbo) is a fierce fencer grappling with age and inner turmoil. An incident from five years ago forced her to take a break from her competitive career, but now, as she works towards competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, there is an emerging restlessness. Joanna faces fierce competition from younger up-and-coming fencer Audie (Park), who is equally driven.
Joanna’s husband and coach, Raph (Dale), controls every minute detail of her life, from her caffeine consumption to her therapy appointments which makes it easy to claim that Joanna has no life of her own. Raph, the very head that restricts Joanna’s life, bemoans the helpless situation she finds herself in because of the lack of adequate prep time before her competitions and provides her with ‘cutting edge’ experimental tech that lets her train in dream space for an entire day while only needing 30 minutes of actual sleep.
Joanna uses a safety-enabled halo dream training device set to allow engagement twice weekly. Through this device, Joanna can lucid dream and encounter Elliot (Jacinto), a striking and enigmatic character who resides in the secret corners of her mind. Ultimately, romance blossoms and Joanna puts forth every effort to bypass the device’s restrictions so that she can spend as much time as possible with Elliot, relishing in his affection. Despite her attempts to escape, Joanna’s fencing skills noticeably improve with each training session due to her self-imposed restrictions, heart-to-heart conversations with Elliot, and the realization that she needs to learn to trust her instincts.
Balestra lets the audience take time to understand Joanna’s backstory before revealing the depths of her darkness. As the lead, Jumbo has been compelling enough to keep the audience glued to their seats for the film’s two-and-a-half-hour duration, revealing bits and pieces of her character’s spectrum in an empathetic manner over the duration of the film. Jumbo is supported by the captivating Jacinto, who despite his calm demeanor hides a very Lady Macbeth-esque interior. There is so much complexity to him. Because Elliot is a mere projection of Joanna’s subconscious, he doesn’t possess much individuality however, how he reflects Joanna’s intrusive thoughts is a complicated and clever trick that Jacinto and the rest of the film portray surprisingly well.
The film’s muted aesthetic allows for the darker storyline and the lead performances to be highlighted. Dorsey expertly manages the transitions from the sports rivalry to the love story and later the psychological thriller elements. The writing offers just enough to move the story forward without the overwhelming, self-contained, speculative fiction plot holes.
Still, the character of Audie might pose a problem. The character is intentionally overblown as the “evil one” which doesn’t work well. From the moment Joanna and Audie meet, Joanna feels fear and doubt placed upon her like the contemplating passive-aggressive gales who sow jealousy. Audie is indeed hateful, but her attempts at mean-girl control and manipulation start to feel far too ridiculous.
Balestra shows a lot of well-executed shots as well. Joanna’s dreams move in the direction of other stylish, sci-fi films, and her fencing duel with Dr. Norton is as thrilling as it gets. The otherworldly vibe of the polished sequences during Joanna’s dream shifts evokes other stylish sci-fi films. Joanna’s void-like training space briefly pulls imagery from alien sequences in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. The warm tones and bespoke minimalist interiors of Joanna and Elliot’s love nest may remind viewers of Spike Jonze’s utopian Her. One must admire Balestra’s set designers and location scouts as they’ve outdone themselves.
The film flows beautifully to its final satisfying climax while granting the lead character the freedom to make her choices and face the consequences tied to them. The ending is a balance of the world’s chaos combined with the dream world’s catharsis, and Balestra surpasses expectations.
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