Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Jackson Booth-Millard I found this half docudrama film listed in the Radio Times, being broadcast on television, it sounded like an unbelievable real life story, and with it having good reviews from critics I was definitely up for it. Basically the film tells the story of British 38-year-old Joyce Vincent (played by Fresh Meat's Zawe Ashton in imagined reconstructions), a beautiful, popular woman who was nonetheless disconnected and lonely. Joyce died in her bedsit, in Wood Green, North London, in December 2003, her death went unnoticed, neither her family, friends or work colleagues were aware, her body was not discovered for three years, on January 25th 2006, surrounded by wrapped but undelivered Christmas presents. The neighbours assumed that the flat was unoccupied, the odour of decomposing body tissue was attributed to nearby waste bins, the flat's windows did not allow direct sight into the accommodation, and drug addicts frequented the area, this may explain why no one questioned the constant noise from the television, it was bailiffs that broke in to Joyce's flat and found her dead. Joyce's body was badly decomposed to conduct a full post-mortem, she was identified from dental records, the cause of death was believed to be caused by either an asthma attack or complications from a recent peptic ulcer. This film switches between constructed scenes of the last days and life of Joyce, and interviews of those who knew her, tracked down by investigating director Carol Morley, they describe her as beautiful, intelligent and socially active. During her life Joyce met figures such as Betty Wright, Gil Scott-Heron, Ben E. King and Nelson Mandela, she went to dinner with Stevie Wonder, and she was beginning a possible singing career, her song "Tell Me" is played in the end credits. Also starring Alix Luka-Cain as Young Joyce, Cornell John as Father and Neelam Bakshi as Mother. Ashton gives a believably subtle performance as the woman who many people who liked her but was nonetheless lonesome, the highlights are the imagined sequence of Joyce singing along to "My Smile is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down)" by Carolyn Crawford, and the real Vincent's voice in the moving song at the end, we will never know what happened to Joyce Vincent and how she went undiscovered for so long, but this film is a haunting and sad but ultimately interesting drama- documentary. Good!

Chris_Pandolfi In January of 2006, the severely decomposed body of a woman was found in a bedsit flat above a shopping mall in the Wood Green district of North London. By pathology, it was determined that she had remained undiscovered for approximately three years. Her body was surrounded by Christmas presents, and apparently, she died in the process of wrapping them. The television set, which sat in one corner of the room, had been left on the entire time. The virtually skeletal condition of the remains meant that she could only be identified by comparing dental records with a photograph of her smiling. Her name was Joyce Carol Vincent, and at the time of her death, she was thirty-eight years old. Although the grim discovery would be mentioned in local newspapers, details regarding Vincent's personal life, including a picture of her, were noticeably missing.Due to the state she was found in, a specific cause of death could not be determined, and the coroner recorded an open verdict. It remains unknown to this day, although it's strongly believed that she died of natural causes. Filmmaker Carol Morley read Vincent's story in the daily tabloid "The Sun" and was haunted by the questions it raised. Now I am, too. How is it possible that the local council, the housing association, and the utility companies didn't notice mounting unpaid bills? How could her neighbors attribute the stench of decaying flesh to dumpsters? Why were the police unwilling to delve any further into the case? The official explanation, according to what Member of Parliament Lynne Featherstone was told, was that there was nothing to answer to in terms of foul play. How they figured out Vincent wasn't murdered in the first place has not been made entirely clear.Morley has channeled her fascination with this story into "Dreams of a Life," a morbidly curious, deeply tragic, strangely compelling documentary constructed entirely from hearsay. It shows that Vincent's life was just as much of a mystery as her death; the scraps we're fed about her are provided by interviewees that at best knew her superficially. Listen to them talk, and you'll repeatedly hear them qualify their statements with phrases like, "I think," "I believe," "Maybe," "I seem to remember," and, "It could be," among many others. It would appear she never let anyone get too close to her, which is ironic given the fact that, by all accounts, she was a beautiful woman and had a fairly active social life. She would ultimately lose touch with everyone, and by the time her body was discovered, many of her former friends and acquaintances didn't initially realize the tabloids were referring to the woman they knew.The interviewees were found only after Morley placed an ad with various publications and internet sites. We see the ad printed on the side of a black cab: "Did you know Joyce Carol Vincent?" Even then, it took months to get a response. Of the people Morley features, three stand out as the most interesting. One is Martin Lister, who met Vincent in 1985 when he worked negotiating client renewals for a shipping company; Vincent was twenty at the time and was his boss' secretary. They would date for three years and then sporadically keep in touch until 2002. The last time she was in his life, he claims, she was staying in his flat and was seemingly in some kind of trouble. He says that she knew every inch of the city, having moved at least once a year. He learned very little about her, although he recalls her telling him about her Indian mother, who died when she was eleven, and her African father, a carpenter. This contradicts what was published, namely that her parents were from the Caribbean.Another featured subject is Catherine Clark, who befriended Vincent when they were renting a room in the home of musician Kirk Thorne. She wasn't surprised when she learned that Vincent had spent some time in a battered women's shelter, for she knew that Vincent had attracted many men into her life. Perhaps her isolation towards the end of her life had something to do a controlling boyfriend. This could account for why her older sisters, who allegedly raised her following their mother's death, were only briefly seen during Vincent's inquest and didn't want to participate in this film. And then there's Alistair Abrahams, a former music manager and Vincent's ex-boyfriend. He too describes a beautiful, fun woman who never shared her past. He recalls when they attended a Nelson Mandela tribute concert in 1990 and how she shook Mandela's hand.Just about everyone in the film expresses disbelief and guilt over not knowing something had happened to her. They don't understand how the woman they knew – a happy, bubbly spirit with a beautiful singing voice and aspirations of being a pop star – could have possibly ended up in a bedsit and died alone. Morley attempts to fill some of the gaps with strategically placed reenactments, which feature Zawe Ashton and Alix Luka-Cain as the adult and child versions of Vincent respectively. It was reported that Vincent was medically treated for a peptic ulcer, and so Morley depicts her looking gravely ill and doubling over in pain the night she died. Perhaps it happened that way, and perhaps it didn't. "Dreams of a Life" raises a lot of questions, but the most important is: How is it possible for someone to slip through the cracks in today's fast-paced, technologically innovative, socially centered world?-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

durwoodg The premise behind this film was quite the teaser; how tragic for someone to die in their own apartment and not be found (missed) for three years. How could this happen? What is the back story? Unfortunately, there wasn't much of one.Not to sound cruel, but the reasons she was not found are probably the same reasons that this movie was not compelling - her life was was tragically mundane, as I'm sure many of our lives are as well. Whatever the circumstances are of my own demise, I don't think it will justify a compelling movie about my life. That's not to say that mine has not been a wonderful and indeed fascinating life, but merely a normal life.The movie relies on interviews with former colleagues and casual friends who do a lot of speculation as to how this could have happened - with few facts. They continually talk about how tragic the circumstances of her "death" were, interjecting baseless speculation about murder or depression. In fact, the circumstances surrounding her death did not seem to be particularly odd - she likely died of natural causes in her apartment. Given that she had (perhaps inexplicably but perhaps not) withdrawn into isolation, it is not that odd to think that she might have died alone. Perhaps over the course of the three years, old friends and colleagues did try to call her, without assuming anything out of the ordinary when she failed to answer - this speculation is as valid as that found in the movie.There was only one character, a colleague with whom she had shared a love interest, that had any compelling insight into her life or who displayed any real emotions. The others were too ancillary to her life to provide any visceral reaction to her death.The movie would have been better served if it speculated more on how this story might have been different in the age of Facebook: Is it less likely for this to happen in today's socially-connected world of tweets, status updates and event invites? Or the movie could have delved more into how institutions failed - how did it happen that the failure to pay mortgage, electricity, water didn't cause concern? The movie did provide an interesting re-creation of what her last day might have been like, based on forensic evidence at the scene. But even that was rife with speculation and presented as an overly dramatic re- imagining of her last day.I do believe that everyone's life is precious and it is tragic when anyone dies alone so, yes, I did empathize with the character in the story. But I felt the same degree of empathy after reading the movie's teaser as I did after seeing the film - it didn't add to my empathy or understanding.

billcr12 Newspaper headlines are flashed on screen detailing the strange case of a 38 year old woman found dead in her apartment after three years. Joyce Carol Vincent died a lonesome death, without drawing notice. A pathologist could not determine the cause of death due to its decomposition. Dental records were used for identification. The people who discovered her said that the television was on and Christmas presents were partially wrapped. A reenactment shows a team in hazmat suits decontaminating the flat. A picture of a pretty black woman is shown while interviews with friends and co-workers begin.She is described as well spoken and easy going. Her mother wast Indian and father a black Grenadian carpenter and womanizer. Her mother died when she was eleven and she told those around her that her father had also passed away. Later on it is discovered that he passed away a year after her.Recordings are played from a studio session when Joyce was aspiring to be a professional singer. A boyfriend, Martin, speaks well of her with fond memories. He is white and overweight and was shocked that such a good looking woman would date him. Another boyfriend remembers living with her and the night she tells him how she met Nelson Mandela. They eventually drift apart and she lives a nomadic lifestyle, rooming with different men and possibly being physically abused by one. A beautiful actress(Zawe Ashton) portrays Joyce in the film and she is very good.Ironically, the most compelling figure of the story turns out to be Martin, who with introspection, regrets the choices he made because he never stops thinking about Joyce, who he loved very much.Dreams of A Life is a powerful and moving statement on how little we really know about each other and the inner demons within all of us.