Dreamland

In the dust and drought of 1930s Oklahoma, a family farm fights to stay afloat as the mortgage slips closer and crops fail. Eugene Evans holds his line, trying to protect his parents and younger sister Phoebe from the bill collectors. When a battered fugitive named Allison Wells hides in town, the quiet life is upended. Eugene finds himself torn between turning her in for a reward and the risky pull of the alluring criminal who seems to understand his pain. As suspicion mounts, trust frays and choices tighten, turning a desperate Harvest-era town into a pressure cooker where desire and danger threaten to collide. The wind howls over the plains as danger quietly gathers around the farm. Hope haunts the fields.

Directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte with a script by Nicolaas Zwart, Dreamland is drawn from an original screenplay rather than a preexisting work. The drama features Finn Cole, Margot Robbie, and Travis Fimmel, and was released in 2019.

Critics offered mixed opinions about its mood, praising the tension and the performances by Finn Cole and Margot Robbie while noting uneven pacing at times. Some argued the plot relies on familiar tropes, yet others highlighted a stark look at desperation and a tense cat and mouse dynamic that keeps the viewer guessing. The film probes scarcity and moral compromise, contrasting family duty with the lure of a dangerous choice.

Even without blockbuster fame, Dreamland adds to a late cycle of period thrillers that place intimate drama inside harsh landscapes. Its stark Oklahoma setting and noirish vibe echo in conversations about resilience and risk in hard times, inviting comparisons to classic noir and westerns.

Box office data for Dreamland remains limited because the film received a restrained release and small-scale distribution, with no widely published worldwide totals available at the time, underscoring its appeal as a niche drama rather than a mass market hit.