Reviews
“It’s a movie of jazz funerals, second lines, roof dancing and swamp dwelling; of shootings and costumes and death, but ultimately of life and the living. In a nutshell, Dreams occupies a dreamlike space that encapsulates a world henceforth not known well to outsiders.”
– Alex DeVore, Santa Fe Reporter
“New Orleanians know the relation of the parades to jazz funerals. There’s hardly a documentary about New Orleans music and culture that doesn’t include images of second lines, but few films dig into their history and meaning like Jason Berry’s City of a Million Dreams. With its onscreen narrators, clarinetist Dr. Michael White and the late Deb “Big Red” Cotton, even fewer are as well positioned to discuss the relationship of loss, relief and joy.”
– Will Coviello, Gambit Weekly
“Tragedy and comedy, life and death: these are the poles between which the events and people in this film move, with the good and the bad often inseparable.. For anyone who loves the place, this film will enhance your understanding. For anyone curious about New Orleans, it’s a fantastic place to start.”
– Malcolm Jones, The Daily Beast
“Yes, funerals — as in the famous joint expressions of mourning and celebration that feature “second line” dance marches to mark the joy of a soul’s ascent into heaven. As director Berry shows, those ceremonies have extraordinarily complex roots and meanings. What his documentary does, lovingly and in mesmerizingly watchable fashion, is explore the African American culture from which jazz funerals evolved — and how the funerals epitomize the soul and resilience of the Crescent City perpetually endangered by storms, floods, fires, coastal erosion, and diseases such as Yellow Fever.”
– Quin Hillyer, The Washington Examiner
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