The cinematography of "Dawn" was stunning with magnificent landscapes. The film's style of slow pacing worked effectively in the long moments of pastoral vistas and seascapes. In turn, the beautiful scenery worked in counterpoint with a tawdry set of characters and an ugly domestic drama.
On the surface, the film is a road picture with Dawn and her young daughter Steph fleeing from something and someone. The film withholds the essential exposition until the end. But it is clear throughout that Dawn has some psychological problems that have motivated her to flee from her situation and apparently to subject her daughter to a disturbing experience for which the mother provides no explanation to her child.
After inflicting a brutal beating on a man, Dawn takes to the road with her daughter in tow. A seemingly kind man is in hot pursuit and will stop at nothing to locate Dawn. The secondary characters invariably have a sinister quality to them, especially the sleazy police officer who questions Dawn along the highway when she is sleeping in her vehicle. The motel proprietor, the convenience store clerk, and the man who runs the ferry also have unsavory auras.
It should be clear by now that the major drawback of "Dawn" was in the uniformly unpleasant characters, and this extends to the nutty title character herself. The filmmakers were effective in creating suspense, and the plot twist was creative. But the drama itself remained enormously depressing from start to finish.
On the surface, the film is a road picture with Dawn and her young daughter Steph fleeing from something and someone. The film withholds the essential exposition until the end. But it is clear throughout that Dawn has some psychological problems that have motivated her to flee from her situation and apparently to subject her daughter to a disturbing experience for which the mother provides no explanation to her child.
After inflicting a brutal beating on a man, Dawn takes to the road with her daughter in tow. A seemingly kind man is in hot pursuit and will stop at nothing to locate Dawn. The secondary characters invariably have a sinister quality to them, especially the sleazy police officer who questions Dawn along the highway when she is sleeping in her vehicle. The motel proprietor, the convenience store clerk, and the man who runs the ferry also have unsavory auras.
It should be clear by now that the major drawback of "Dawn" was in the uniformly unpleasant characters, and this extends to the nutty title character herself. The filmmakers were effective in creating suspense, and the plot twist was creative. But the drama itself remained enormously depressing from start to finish.