Somnium review – dream-injection sci-fi plot follows in dodgy-clinic tracks of The Substance

Racheal Cain’s debut feature feels derivative, with plotlines that are forced together and cartoonish reductions that sell its characters short

Hard on the heels of The Substance comes another film about a dodgy Los Angeles experimental clinic and showbiz obsession – only this medical outfit, Somnium, is a shonky mind-fixing operation à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Wannabe actor Gemma (Chloë Levine) lands a “sleep-sitting” job at the firm, watching over patients in pods who are hoping to improve their lives by having helpful dreams injected into their subconsciouses. Already working the audition circuit hard, she doesn’t appear to need that kind of assistance – but flashbacks to the idyllic relationship she ditched in Georgia hint at a festering inner wound.

Appealing though its crisp sci-fi premise makes it, Racheal Cain’s debut feature nonetheless feels as if it has been directly imprinted with far too many secondhand pop-cultural memories: some decaying Eternal Sunshine relationship detritus here, a mysterious producer svengali (Johnathon Schaech) and a transformative audition-room scene straight from Mulholland Drive over there. Even one of the key performances feels derivative: Will Peltz as Noah, Gemma’s creepy, aviator-specs colleague, xeroxes Cillian Murphy’s supercilious distaste.