Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

claire thomas *spoiler* i thought that dreams of a life sends a really important message. It shows the truth behind the lines 'they only care if you are pretty or dead.' Joyce was dead for 3 years and no one at all had noticed, no phone calls were made, no bills that weren't paid questioned, no family who wanted to know how she was, no friends trying to wish her a happy birthday and no one wanting to see her at all throughout the three years. As soon as her body was found, a documentary was released and suddenly all of her 'friends' had reoccurred and became part of her life. They talk about their favourite memories and how stunning Joyce was, yet when she was missing, no one even noticed. It really shows how you do have to be dead and it to be made public for anyone to even notice that you were a genuinely nice person that will be missed. No one noticed her until she was dead. That is the society I am in, it's disgusting. 3 whole years and no one noticed her until a documentary was released. Yet they wonder why she may of killed herself- maybe because no one cared for her and thats not a life anyone would want.

sophiaciting If you are the type of person who is interested in peoples lives this is your film to watch, of course this way is not everyone is but don't let bad reviews put you off.My eyes never left the screen, I found it immensely interesting and quite sad. I feel it is really important for this film to have been made, simply for the fact that because of this film she did not disappear and even though she died alone she didn't live her life in vain. My feeling after watching the film was that in a sense we could all gain perspective - That is how vivid all of our lives are if only we can see it... Joyce may have never known how much people cared but the fact is they had, and what we must remember is there is always someone willing to help, there is always a chance. It seems she had many, for example seeing her old housemate randomly on the street - it could have been a chance to get help - This film is simply a quest to bring back some dignity and life for someone that could have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Now she is in so many peoples memories and I find that quite a noble quest.

billcr12 Newspaper headlines are flashed on screen detailing the strange case of a 38 year old woman found dead in her apartment after three years. Joyce Carol Vincent died a lonesome death, without drawing notice. A pathologist could not determine the cause of death due to its decomposition. Dental records were used for identification. The people who discovered her said that the television was on and Christmas presents were partially wrapped. A reenactment shows a team in hazmat suits decontaminating the flat. A picture of a pretty black woman is shown while interviews with friends and co-workers begin.She is described as well spoken and easy going. Her mother wast Indian and father a black Grenadian carpenter and womanizer. Her mother died when she was eleven and she told those around her that her father had also passed away. Later on it is discovered that he passed away a year after her.Recordings are played from a studio session when Joyce was aspiring to be a professional singer. A boyfriend, Martin, speaks well of her with fond memories. He is white and overweight and was shocked that such a good looking woman would date him. Another boyfriend remembers living with her and the night she tells him how she met Nelson Mandela. They eventually drift apart and she lives a nomadic lifestyle, rooming with different men and possibly being physically abused by one. A beautiful actress(Zawe Ashton) portrays Joyce in the film and she is very good.Ironically, the most compelling figure of the story turns out to be Martin, who with introspection, regrets the choices he made because he never stops thinking about Joyce, who he loved very much.Dreams of A Life is a powerful and moving statement on how little we really know about each other and the inner demons within all of us.

starrsofringo After reading the description of this film I looked forward to a well delivered film about the life and times of a woman who was eventually found dead in her apartment. Yes, the premise of finding out who she was and the life she had lived seemed like it would have provided an interesting journey for the viewers. Adding to the fact that not a single person had shown interest in her life when it ended and then not being found until 3 years later as a skeleton on a couch, the TV still running - made this seem like it may be interesting.However, I am disappointed to say that this film just doesn't have what a decent documentary needs. It contains barely any real evidence of the woman's life, and she is only seen in a few photographs at one point in the film. The story relies on some of her old acquaintances, who most obviously were not close friends with her. We are made to sit through endless assumptions and vague memories shot with a typical interview type backdrop throughout the entire film. Some of them just seem to just be there to get some screen time of their own and the film makers have been desperate enough to use basically anyone with any kind of connection to the victim. To make this 'documentary' a complete failure is the reliance on dramatization. It's a terrible attempt at story telling, the acting is poor and to tread even more dirt into this attempt at documentary making the film makers have recreated the woman's apartment, recreated the police crew packing up the apartment in full chemical suits.They also try to create a 'What if' scenarios by including a 'What if she was murdered?' theme to try and add more to it.The movie feels empty and poorly conceived. There is just not enough real footage and real evidence to even hold together 30 minutes let alone 1.5 hours.If you like your documentaries filled with acted dramatization, poor acting, film sets and montages created because they have no real footage of the events and a group of interviewees that were never close enough to the woman to help her in her times of need. Then this is your kind of movie.