The Map of My Dreams - DVD

Film: Ten-year-old T.S. Spivet (Kyle Catlett) lives with his family on a ranch in the middle of nowhere Montana. While his sister Gracie (Niamh Wilson) dreams of life in the big city and the participation in a beauty contest, his mother Dr. Clair (Helena Bonham Carter) is primarily concerned with insects and he also to his taciturn father (Callum Keith Rennie), a real cowboy, no real bond can establish, T.S. only remains to escape into his own world. And in this world, the highly gifted boy makes such ingenious inventions that one day even the famous Smithsonian Museum invites him to Washington D.C. to award him a prize. Secretly, the boy sets off on the long journey to the capital and experiences one exciting adventure after another. But he cannot run away from the dark secret he carries with him, even on his journey across the USA...

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films are always characterised by a very special visual language and a visual playfulness. But as we all know, even the most beautiful and imaginative images do not make a good film. Fortunately, the French filmmaker is also a true artist as a storyteller. Jeunet has a first-rate ability to make small things seem very big and to discover true beauty even in the dark corners of his stories. This is also evident in his second English-language film after Alien - The Rebirth in an impressive and fascinating way. The film adaptation of Reif Larsen's bestseller The Map of My Dreams, also Jeunet's first film shot in 3D, is an imaginative, humorous, at the same time sad, beautiful and wonderfully quirky road trip through the USA, which offers great cinema on both a visual and narrative level.

The film was primarily shot in Canada, where Jeunet has captured some quite magnificent landscape shots in which you can literally lose yourself as a viewer. Besides these beautiful pictures, the way Jeunet visualizes the very special world of T.S. Spivet's mind makes the film a feast for the eyes and at the same time offers some wonderfully bizarre ideas that not only amaze but also make you laugh. This creates a pleasant counterbalance to the very sad aspects of the story. Not only because of his passion for science, but also because of the secret that has been weighing on his conscience for far too long, T.S. is also very lonely within his family. And this makes for very moving moments, in which some viewers might even shed a tear or two.

Particularly the scene in which T.S. reveals his tragic secret to the world at the award ceremony in Washington is a real goosebump moment, thanks to the perfect interplay of Jeunet's staging, the wonderful music by Denis Sanacore and the outstanding performance by newcomer Kyle Catlett. It is here that the film reveals another of Jeunet's strengths: as much of a visual director as he may be, he never lets the images upstage the performances of the actors. Rather, he relies on a balanced symbiosis, which also pays off in full in The Map of My Dreams.

This wonderful film is a very good example of how special effects don't necessarily have to serve only to bombard the audience's senses, but can also serve as an important component of a simply beautiful story that invites laughter, sobs, and dreams all at once. So if you want to experience great cinema for all your senses at home and love extraordinary stories, you should definitely take T.S. on a trip to Washington. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The wonderful landscape shots of the film also come into their own in the home theater, with the image also in the 2D version has a pleasant depth. Colors are powerfully mixed and overall sharpness is at a very high level. Even in darker scenes, the many small details, such as in the father's room, come out very well. The audio is in a pleasantly dynamic Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which not only allows the voices to sound well intelligible from the speakers, but also provides plenty of movement in the surrounds with well-implemented sound effects every now and then. Very good!

Extras: Heart of the bonus material is the very worth seeing Making of (approx. 79 min.), which goes into great detail on the individual aspects of the production. Interested viewers learn here everything from the adaptation of the novel about the casting, storyboards, location scouting to the equipment, the effects and the actual shooting. Author Reif Larsen also has his say, and, obviously very taken with Jeunet's attention to detail, takes viewers on a tour of the Spivets' home. It's a documentary really worth watching, and unlike many other making ofs, it doesn't come across too much like a long commercial.

In addition to the making of and the trailer for the film, the DVD also has some additional scenes (approx. 4:37 min.) to offer, which are not really missing from the film, but are quite interesting to watch.

Conclusion: The Map of My Dreams is a quite wonderful film with great images and a beautiful story. As a viewer, you can laugh, marvel and also cry a little bit here. Jean-Pierre Jeunet has found just the right mix between playful humor and honest sentimentality. The technical realization of the film for home cinema and the worth seeing bonus material make this DVD a must buy for all those who love extraordinary stories and enjoy films with all their senses. Absolutely recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp