A retrofuturist dystopia might be worlds removed from our own in terms of aesthetic, but Alex Prager’s DreamQuil finds plenty of other ways to hold a mirror up to our society. The art photographer’s feature debut splices the apocalyptic settings one would encounter in Total Recall or 1984 with the absurdist tone of Brazil, sprinkling in a bit of second-wave feminism to unpack the plight of her protagonist.
Elizabeth Banks is Carol, a working housewife who resents being called “mom” — even by her own child — and frequently escapes from her suffocating reality with trips into holographic simulations. She gets a chance to finally get out of her slump with the help of a program called DreamQuil; the only catch is that an automated copy of Carol will replace her while she’s off on her wellness retreat.
