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Daydream Nation

Daydream Nation

Drama · Romance · 2011

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.

Movie details

Daydream Nation

2011 Drama · Romance 1h 38m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Daydream Nation?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

On the Edge

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Keith

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Chemical Hearts

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Winter Spring Summer or Fall

Winter Spring Summer or Fall

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Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.

Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Michael Goldbach

Written by

Michael Goldbach

Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings

Caroline Wexler

Reece Thompson

Reece Thompson

Thurston

Josh Lucas

Josh Lucas

Barry Anderson

Andie MacDowell

Andie MacDowell

Enid Goldberg

Rachel Blanchard

Rachel Blanchard

Ms. Budge

Natasha Calis

Natasha Calis

Lily Goldberg

Quinn Lord

Quinn Lord

Thomas

Court is in session

Put Daydream Nation on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.