Sweet Dreaming
2016 · 13m · Australia
Directed by Katherine Escane
Genres: LGBTQ+, musical, romance
Tones: surreal, tender, whimsical
A sweet-shop owner weighs business advice from customers while falling for her female business partner.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A musical rom-com about a queer shop owner—fine on paper, sure, but Escane refuses to let it settle into greeting-card territory; the surrealism creeping in around the edges keeps it genuinely disorienting in the best way.
The film positions itself thoughtfully within the lineage of micro-budget musicals and queer romance cinema, with a formal attention to how whimsy and tender feeling can coexist through precise editing and tonal restraint.
Escane makes a 13-minute film about small-business doubt and falling in love sing by trusting a single choice—letting the surreal and the romantic occupy the same frame without explaining either one—and that restraint is what makes it work.
Reviews
The juxtaposition of a lesbian romance set against the backdrop of a vintage 1950s setting creates a layer of surreality in the piece. Despite some of the vocals sounding a bit under-rehearsed, the film is enjoyable to watch for its sheer ambition.