I’ve never seen the much-acclaimed 2018 version of the “A Star is Born” because the 1976 version (with scruffy Kris Kristofferson and peak unfiltered Barbara Streisand) will always be my ultimate version of the story. Kristofferson and Streisand have enough chemistry in that film to keep New York running for years and the ending is incredibly touching.
Then there’s “Dandelion” (written and directed by Nicole Riegel), which feels like a remix of “A Star is Born” but lacks everything that made that 1976 version so great.
Kiki Layne plays the titular role of Dandelion, a young singer who’s desperate to perform and get her work seen and heard by the public. She performs three nights a week in a small bar, putting her heart into one song after another, wearing her fingers to the nub on her guitar, only to have the bar patrons talk with each other and mostly ignore her. Fed up with it, she takes off for South Dakota in the hopes of performing at a motorcycle rally to reach a bigger audience.
A Couple that Struggles to Find Their Chemistry
Thomas Doherty is Casey, a guitarist who gave up on his dream of being a big-time recording star, and he’s returned to South Dakota to reconnect with friends from his old band, eventually having a fateful run-in with Dandelion.
So you have one person who’s hungry to be a star and another who left stardom behind, which should make for an interesting dynamic between the two characters as they lift each other up and discover the joys of exploring music together, right? Unfortunately, the two have as much chemistry as a peanut butter and mustard sandwich. I thought Kiki Layne was amazing as Dandelion, so relentlessly pursuing her love of writing and performing music that she seemed addicted to it like heroin. There are moments throughout the film where she reaches an impasse to achieving her goals, causing her to go into a furious fugue state of sweaty guitar strumming and lyric scribbling, as if she’s trying to summon the perfect song from the ether like an ancient witch chanting spells at an altar. Her joy, fury and sadness are palpable, you feel her every emotion.
Kiki Layne Turns in a Solid Performance
On the other hand, Thomas Doherty never finds solid footing as Casey. He’s so mercurial and moody it’s never clear how he feels about Dandelion or where his mind is at any given moment. One moment he’s charming and playful, the next he’s deeply depressed, and at other moments he seems downright sinister, glowering at Dandelion from afar like a beast on the prowl. Casey would have been a great character in a horror film, but in a romantic setting, I kept wondering what Dandelion found so attractive about him. Their relationship just wasn’t believable.
The saving grace of the film is the beautiful cinematography by Lauren Guiteras. The bulk of the film takes place in the mountains and forests of South Dakota, and Dandelion and Casey go there to renew their creative juices in nature, setting up several wonderful scenes of the two hiking and motorcycle-riding through all those beautiful canyons and towering trees of The Mount Rushmore State.
Still, Beautiful Cinematography
These scenes reminded me so much of “Easy Rider,” another film where two people set off on a quest, learning more about themselves while taking in all the beautiful scenery amidst a country in turmoil.
By the time the end credits roll, you may not be totally invested in Dandelion and Casey’s denouement, but you’ll definitely be tempted to book a flight to South Dakota for your next vacation.
“Dandelion” is available to watch in theaters and on HBO Max.
