The Prodigal Dreamer

MPAA Rating: PG
USCCB Rating: Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating: 3 out of 5 reels

From Happy Feet and October Sky to Rudy and Sing, the “misunderstood dream-chasing teenager oppressed by his parents” motif is one of the most overused in American literature and perhaps has done more damage to society than any other cinematic trope.

Dreamin’ Wild turns this narrative on its head and instead has a family that supports their son’s artistic vision to their great sacrifice and his ultimate failure. Monster University is the only other film I’ve seen attempt this. It’s an important reality, sensitively and beautifully told by great acting, writing, and directing. It didn’t get me to buy the album, but it gives me hope for my own kids.

Donnie Emerson (Casey Affleck) is a middle-aged musician barely scrapping by. He and his wife own a struggling studio, perform minor gigs around town, and raise their daughter in a small apartment. Emerson’s life changes dramatically when an industry executive tracks him down after a thirty-year-old album featuring himself and his brother goes viral. They get offers to re-release the album, go on tour, and even write new songs. Everyone seems ecstatic – except Donnie. For him, this reopens old wounds and unresolved difficulties he worked hard to suppress.

Director Bill Polhad reveals Donnie’s story slowly and gently, frequently jumping back to past to show the brothers as they recorded their self produced and unsuccessful album at just seventeen years of age. Although the glacial pace is occasionally overbearing, it gives plenty of time to explore Donnie’s complex emotions. Sure, he’s “happy” that the album has been rediscovered. But he’s also upset that the world seems to completely ignore and negate his last thirty years of hard work. He also has deliberately stayed away from his family, racked with guilt over his failure. The original album was a duet between his bother and himself, but the first music executives only wanted him as a solo act. Worse still, when he did move to Los Angeles, his father had to sell huge areas of Washington farmland to pay for his son’s dream, only to never see it materialize.

The pent-up emotions of guilt and anger come spilling over in two important scenes. First, during a practice session, Donnie’s brother Joey (Walton Goggins) is having trouble playing the drums because he is thirty years out of practice. Donnie angrily snaps at him. “This isn’t a game,” he yells. “This is my life!” His wife Nancy (Zooey Deschanel) brings him back. “The song’s called ‘Good Times.’ Try having one,” she retorts. Later, he apologizes to his brother and father, not just for his absence and poor behavior, but for ruining them financially. They are quick to forgive. His father explains that he was happy to help his son; it is precisely why a father works so hard.

His father’s mercy illustrates the beautiful Christian life that seems almost hidden behind the scenes. The Emerson family grew up in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Today, this area of the country has a reputation as a bastion of the worst elements of secular progressivism. Yet, as a proud resident of the Willamette Valley, I can assure you this is mostly the knuckleheads in Salem and Olympia. For the average Cascadian, Christianity isn’t loud “loud and proud” like in the megachurches in Texas, but quiet, organic, and connected to the natural world.

The Emersons don’t hand out leaflets at the Fair, but they pray before every show, eat dinner together as a family every night, and have pictures of Jesus in every room. It also is apparent in the conversations between the family members. They use odd phrases not usually heard in American sitcoms: “God bless you,” “I forgive you,” “God has a plan for this,” and “I love you.”

I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Donnie, and he mentioned “the crosses he had to bear” in his life. It’s a faith that understands Jesus’ command to “not let your right hand know what your left is doing.”

To be honest, musical biopics are not my cup of tea. After that interview, I tried listening to the original Emerson album and had a hard time connecting. Yet, what was enormously compelling is the love and sacrifice of a family whose members care deeply about one another. In a graduation speech given at Northwestern University, Stephen Colbert wisely remarked, “If you don’t achieve your dreams, you haven’t failed. And here’s the hard part: if you do achieve your dream, you haven’t ‘won.’ You can’t ‘win’ your life. All you can do is love others, and hope they love you back.”

Donnie would agree.