July 31, 2025
FILM: DANIELA FOREVER
DIRECTED BY: NACHO VIGALONDO
STARRING: HENRY GOLDING, BEATRICE GRANNO, AURA GARRIDO
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Science taking over our minds is a pretty common theme in 21st Century film. The catch is often that with all of the advancements in science it is certainly possible to abuse what we’ve learned about our brains (if we haven’t already!) In Daniela Forever, Nicolas, played by Henry Golding, is grieving the loss of Daniela who recently died rather suddenly. It’s affecting both his waking and dream life. When he is informed about a secret drug that might help the process along via lucid dreaming, Nicolas dives in. This type of dreaming, if you’re unaware, is what some believe is possible: you know that you are dreaming, you can consciously interact within your dreams, and afterwards you remember everything perfectly.
Nicolas begins taking the pills administered to him by a team of notetaking doctors. He initially has the same issues some of us have in our dream life: we can’t open, move, pull, or control things. But as the treatment continues Nicolas begins to gain control and is able to start and stop certain actions from happening. People are frozen, he can rewind and fast forward over what he dreams, and, of course, he can see and be involved with Daniela once again.
The concept of the film is quite interesting. Wouldn’t we all want to control our dreams if we could? Daniel Forever suggests that by taking medical treatments such as those Nicolas does though we might abuse the power, resulting in some unfavorable psychological reactions.
How all of this is presented is fairly audience friendly. When Nicolas is awake the aspect ratio of the screen is the standard 4:3. In other words, the size of old movie and TV screens. The images within Nicolas’s world look a bit drab and closed. In his dream world, though, the ratio suddenly becomes much more vibrant in high-definition widescreen format. This might be suggesting that Nicholas now has increased possibilities for control and the exploration of his imagination. The problem within the experience for viewers begins to occur when the two worlds become blurred and overlap. Confusion plagues the last third of the film, making for a less than clear resolution to Nicolas’s predicament.
In watching Daniela Forever it’s hard not to think of other films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or the 2023 Nicholas Cage film, Dream Scenario. Both create altered states of perception. The former, like the current film, focuses on the use and abuse of scientific and medical innovations. Dream Scenario examines how our minds could be controlled by the outside world. Yet, both films offer creative and fully-developed ideas that reach some level of satisfying resolution. They also have some well-rounded supporting characters played by top-notch actors. Other than Golding, most audiences will be unfamiliar with the other actors in Daniela Forever. A few of their performances aren’t as strong as others. This might have less to do with the actors though and more with how they were directed to play the somewhat less appealing and underwritten characters created by director/writer Nacho Vigalondo.
This is an interesting and provocative film though which boasts some excellent art direction and a pulsating music score by Catalan electronic duo Hidrogenesse. It’s also fascinating to contemplate the concept of lucid dreaming and one’s potential ability to make it happen. I’m a bit skeptical on the idea but there are people trained to teach others how to dream lucidly, just check out the JungPlatform. If it’s possible would you do it? Can such dreaming overtake reality?
Daniel Forever is currently available on digital streaming sites such as Amazon Prime where it is to available rent.
FILM: DANIELA FOREVER
DIRECTED BY: NACHO VIGALONDO
STARRING: HENRY GOLDING, BEATRICE GRANNO, AURA GARRIDO
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Science taking over our minds is a pretty common theme in 21st Century film. The catch is often that with all of the advancements in science it is certainly possible to abuse what we’ve learned about our brains (if we haven’t already!) In Daniela Forever, Nicolas, played by Henry Golding, is grieving the loss of Daniela who recently died rather suddenly. It’s affecting both his waking and dream life. When he is informed about a secret drug that might help the process along via lucid dreaming, Nicolas dives in. This type of dreaming, if you’re unaware, is what some believe is possible: you know that you are dreaming, you can consciously interact within your dreams, and afterwards you remember everything perfectly.
Nicolas begins taking the pills administered to him by a team of notetaking doctors. He initially has the same issues some of us have in our dream life: we can’t open, move, pull, or control things. But as the treatment continues Nicolas begins to gain control and is able to start and stop certain actions from happening. People are frozen, he can rewind and fast forward over what he dreams, and, of course, he can see and be involved with Daniela once again.
The concept of the film is quite interesting. Wouldn’t we all want to control our dreams if we could? Daniel Forever suggests that by taking medical treatments such as those Nicolas does though we might abuse the power, resulting in some unfavorable psychological reactions.
How all of this is presented is fairly audience friendly. When Nicolas is awake the aspect ratio of the screen is the standard 4:3. In other words, the size of old movie and TV screens. The images within Nicolas’s world look a bit drab and closed. In his dream world, though, the ratio suddenly becomes much more vibrant in high-definition widescreen format. This might be suggesting that Nicholas now has increased possibilities for control and the exploration of his imagination. The problem within the experience for viewers begins to occur when the two worlds become blurred and overlap. Confusion plagues the last third of the film, making for a less than clear resolution to Nicolas’s predicament.
In watching Daniela Forever it’s hard not to think of other films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or the 2023 Nicholas Cage film, Dream Scenario. Both create altered states of perception. The former, like the current film, focuses on the use and abuse of scientific and medical innovations. Dream Scenario examines how our minds could be controlled by the outside world. Yet, both films offer creative and fully-developed ideas that reach some level of satisfying resolution. They also have some well-rounded supporting characters played by top-notch actors. Other than Golding, most audiences will be unfamiliar with the other actors in Daniela Forever. A few of their performances aren’t as strong as others. This might have less to do with the actors though and more with how they were directed to play the somewhat less appealing and underwritten characters created by director/writer Nacho Vigalondo.
This is an interesting and provocative film though which boasts some excellent art direction and a pulsating music score by Catalan electronic duo Hidrogenesse. It’s also fascinating to contemplate the concept of lucid dreaming and one’s potential ability to make it happen. I’m a bit skeptical on the idea but there are people trained to teach others how to dream lucidly, just check out the JungPlatform. If it’s possible would you do it? Can such dreaming overtake reality?
Daniel Forever is currently available on digital streaming sites such as Amazon Prime where it is to available rent.