Customer Reviews

Lost Dream

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Amazing performances by Michael Welch and Shuan Sipos! The film is thought provoking and real...A MUST SEE! I saw it with a friend and he claimed it touched him on many levels. FYI, it can get a little intense...not your average film.

I had the fortunate honor of watching this film at the Tucson film festival and can I just say I was completely blown away! That guy from Twilight, Michael Welch, played the lead and his performance was outstanding as the troubled kid trying to figure out his life. The other guy playing opposite him was the dude on the new Melrose Place, Shaun Sipos. Not only is he just hot to look at, his character is so different from what we see on Melrose Place. I really believed that he was this tortured guy that had shut the world away from him.

The story of the film is pretty current in my opinion. When I went to college, alot of kids were struggling with what their future held for them and experimented with bunch of stuff. This movie confronts those problems and doesn't try to make everything so cookie cutter.

I have to say too that the style of the film was cool too. Its different and seemed more artistic and thought-out than your regular just follow storyline from beginning to end. I'm very happy that this is coming out on DVD. Its already on my pre-order list!

Michael Welch (from "Twilight" fame) and Shawn Sipos ("Melrose Place" on CW Network) star in "Lost Dream"; a story about a college-aged son of a congressman who just learned his dad has gone to jail on corruption charges. But, the cast member I thought stole the movie was Patrica Richardson (known for her role as "Jill" in the 1990's tv sitcom "Home Improvment".) She plays Micheal's mom (same name) and in scene learned that Perry (M. Welch) has changed his way of life after meeting with Gio (S. Sipos' character) with out mentioning his name. She accepted it and the movie continued to an somber ending that you must see. Great job by Ms. Richardson and also by veteran television actor Joseph Capenella aho played Gio's uncle in the independent movie.

What is the American Dream? Is it even worth trying to achieve?. . .

This movie is thought provoking, intense, raw, and emotional. Asif Ahmed provides insightful analysis into questions that many have experienced thoughout their lives: Who am I? What do I want? Can and should I change?

The performances by the cast were amazing. Esp. Shaun Sipos as Giovanni. His portrayal of a conflicted art student whose life is dominated by sex, drugs, and violence put chills up and down my spine.

I also enjoyed the special features which included interviews from the cast.

I highly recommend this film.

This is a great film ... it deals with youth struggles in present time. No matter where you lay on the age spectrum, you'll be able to relate to the forced rights of passage we all had to endure in order to grow up and become the person we are today.

The film does a great job in portraying that in somewhat of a dark yet positive light.

Highly recommended!

"Lost Dream" is about an upper class college teen, Perry Roberts, who suffers from clinical depression. He exhibits all the classic symptoms: hopelessness, suicidal tendencies, paranoia, drug/alcohol abuse, inability to experience pleasure (anhedonia), reclusiveness, and impaired social skills.

The problem, however, is that it is difficult to tell where the movie is going: is it a "disease-of-the-week" educational film or does it want to imply that Perry's gripes are legitimate? These are both perfectly acceptable story lines if done right. But the story doesn't resolve either of these routes in any satisfactory way.

For instance, many people in Perry's life are aware that he suffers from a serious condition: his mother, girlfriend, and therapist all admit that he has clinical depression. Even the movie director admits it in the DVD interview. The movie is so relentless in this that, as a viewer, you can't help but throw your hands up in the middle of the film and say, "Ok, I KNOW he's depressed, but what are you going to DO about it?!"

Unfortunately, nothing. Perry basically spends the entire film ranting about corporate greed, his father/congressman's corruption, and the phoniness of the American dream (hence the movie title). He is constantly railing about his family trying to force him into a career path that he abhors, yet we never see him do anything productive to change things (other than verbally abusing his mother and his long-suffering girlfriend).

He portrays his father in the worst possible way, even creating a YouTube video rant that is played throughout the film. Yet not once does the viewer get to hear his father's point-of-view. In fact, the father never even appears in the film.

Perry Roberts ends up being a very one-dimensional character: a spoiled, whiny rich kid who does very little to address the injustices he sees. At one point, his drug-dealing friend Giovanni (Shaun Sipos) says, "Your pain isn't real; you make it up!" so even the movie characters think Perry's ravings are phony.

The resolution of the story is completely unsatisfactory; the movie practically gives away the ending making it all the more ineffective.

The portrayal of the treatment of clinical depression is not accurate. While the mother suggests that medication might help, the therapist (Jeremy London) says that drugs won't help at all. This is not true. Anti-depressants are actually among the most effective treatments in all of psychopharmacology. For example, a 2004 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and reported in The New York Times finds Prozac is indeed effective and much better than talking to a therapist.

Michael Welch (Mike Newton in the "Twilight" films) does fine with what he is given. Every kid actor wants to play a bad guy and yell at people, and Welch finally gets his chance. He appears in almost every scene in the film. It is great to see him in a lead role; I hope he gets more.

DVD comes with feature-length commentary, actor/director interviews, and deleted scenes.