Dream Note
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the most aggressively wholesome piece of cinema this side of a Norman Rockwell painting that gained sentience and directed a music video. A college girl named Bonnie Kildare – and no, I cannot confirm whether she was named after the hospital drama, but the vibes are certainly present – is having what can only be described as the most narratively convenient romantic daydream in the history of moving pictures. Her boyfriend Johnny Downs sings her a love song, because of course he does, and this musical fever dream begins at a graduation ceremony – because nothing says 'romantic devotion' quite like sitting through three hours of people you barely know walking across a stage to receive degrees in subjects you can't pronounce – before eventually relocating to a soda fountain. A SODA FOUNTAIN. This film was made in an era when the height of romantic fantasy wasn't a yacht in the Mediterranean or a penthouse in Manhattan; it was sharing a milkshake with two straws while a mixed double quartet provided choral accompaniment. And let me tell you, as someone who has lived through the era of Tinder bios and ghosting, there is something almost painfully charming about a world where the ultimate romantic gesture involves harmonized singing and carbonated beverages. The mixed double quartet deserves special mention, because apparently in this universe, eight people just materialize to provide lovely choruses at socially appropriate moments, which is the kind of spontaneous musical theater experience that would make even the most dedicated Glee fan question the logistics. This is cinema as comfort food – not particularly nutritious, not especially challenging, but warm and familiar and served with a sincerity that modern irony would never permit. It's a time capsule of an era when love was simpler, songs were sweeter, and the biggest decision you had to make was whether to order the cherry or chocolate soda while your boyfriend crooned at you like you were the only person in the room.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the most aggressively wholesome piece of cinema this side of a Norman Rockwell painting that gained sentience and directed a music video. A college girl named Bonnie Kildare – and no, I cannot confirm whether she was named after the hospital drama, but the vibes are certainly present – is having what can only be described as the most narratively convenient romantic daydream in the history of moving pictures. Her boyfriend Johnny Downs sings her a love song, because of course he does, and this musical fever dream begins at a graduation ceremony – because nothing says 'romantic devotion' quite like sitting through three hours of people you barely know walking across a stage to receive degrees in subjects you can't pronounce – before eventually relocating to a soda fountain. A SODA FOUNTAIN. This film was made in an era when the height of romantic fantasy wasn't a yacht in the Mediterranean or a penthouse in Manhattan; it was sharing a milkshake with two straws while a mixed double quartet provided choral accompaniment. And let me tell you, as someone who has lived through the era of Tinder bios and ghosting, there is something almost painfully charming about a world where the ultimate romantic gesture involves harmonized singing and carbonated beverages. The mixed double quartet deserves special mention, because apparently in this universe, eight people just materialize to provide lovely choruses at socially appropriate moments, which is the kind of spontaneous musical theater experience that would make even the most dedicated Glee fan question the logistics. This is cinema as comfort food – not particularly nutritious, not especially challenging, but warm and familiar and served with a sincerity that modern irony would never permit. It's a time capsule of an era when love was simpler, songs were sweeter, and the biggest decision you had to make was whether to order the cherry or chocolate soda while your boyfriend crooned at you like you were the only person in the room.
— Dreamer's log, recorded 2016 in the cloudsAdjacent Dreams in the Cloud
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