Writer and Director: Racheal Cain
Somnium is a gripping sci-fi thriller written and directed by Racheal Cain. Somnium itself is an experimental sleep clinic in LA which claims to transform dreams into reality. Gemma, newly arrived from small town Georgia, stumbles across it when desperately seeking work while she attends auditions. Somnium’s offices are unimpressive, its dimly lit rooms packed with old-fashioned filing cabinets and storage boxes. It seems to be run by a staff of just three, a woman doctor and two young assistants, Noah and Olivia. But a sign outside announces they are hiring, so Gemma introduces herself and is offered the position of ‘sleep sitter’.
Thrilled to have work, she rents a cheap room and continues to respond to calls for auditions. But the thrill quickly wears off. As sleep sitter, she has to work nights, roaming the gloomy corridors or remotely monitoring the sleep pods in which clients are bathed in pastel light, each hearing the soothing voice offering tailored life coaching. Noah, intelligently played by Will Peltz, is the geeky young tech genius who explains to her the mechanics of Somnium’s work. It’s something about storing information deep within the subconscious, but mercifully, Racheal Cain passes over the science-y bit with breezy unconcern. All we know is that paying clients are put to sleep for six weeks to emerge rewired, their dreams ready to be fulfilled. Gemma asks the important question: does their actual reality change, or just their perception of it? It’s a question that lies at the heart of the film. But Noah just dismisses it – it doesn’t really matter, he insists.
Gemma’s wide-eyed eagerness is brilliantly captured by Chloe Levine, dressed in a series of child-like pinafore dresses. She has flashbacks to her recent past, to her happy homelife with her tight-knit group of friends. We see the development of her love affair. Hunter works in his father’s garage, Gemma in her parents’ diner. Hunter secretly longs to play in a band, but accepts the fact that his future will simply be running his father’s business. Gemma cherishes a different dream. She longs to be an actor, determined to get to LA to start her career.
And what makes Somnium so well-crafted is Cain’s thoughtful variations on the theme of dreams and dreaming. All the central characters pursue a dream, even the obsessed games players in the arcade where Olivia hangs out. Paying Somnium to make your dream come true seems the logical extension of this. It’s Noah who cynically reveals the depressing truth – their dream clients “all want the same shit£ – money, success and love.
Gemma’s dreams, however, don’t seem to be coming true. Finally called for an audition, her performance is terrific. But it all comes to nothing. The rent is overdue and more importantly, her apartment building seems haunted by horrible, unearthly sounds. Now she hears these pulsing thuds and groans at work too.
Meanwhile she’s befriended by an older man, Brooks, a sort of Barbie’s Ken, with his white quiff and fancy sports car, promising he can influence her career.
One of the great things about the film is that you just can’t tell where the plot is going. Only gradually are parts of the jigsaw ready to assemble. Gemma’s relationship with Hunter has come to a bitter end over her determination to move to LA. We begin to wonder whether life in small town Georgia with him would in fact have been the better future. Cain’s clever writing allows you to have this thought, and then shocks you with a new twist.
The atmosphere of Somnium is evocatively created by director of photography, Lance Kuhn, the interior scenes becoming increasingly dark and claustrophobic. The film’s use of a sinister soundscape and its original music are the work of Peter Ricq and Mike Forst.
Lots is left unexplained, but it adds up to a haunting, thrilling story.
Somnium will be available on Digital Download from 8th September.
