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‘Dandelion’ Review: KiKi Layne and Thomas Doherty Find Fleeting Harmony in Ethereal Musical Romance
Writer-director Nicole Riegel examines the obstacles creative women face in 'Dandelion,' a drama about two indie musicians chasing their breakthrough.
Tired of singing in a Cincinnati hotel bar to an audience for whom she is no more than background noise, singer-songwriter Theresa ( KiKi Layne), stage name Dandelion, travels to South Dakota for a competition to be the opening act at a major event. Composed largely by twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National (the former has of late become one Taylor Swift’s closest collaborators) in tandem with Layne, the tracks Dandelion and Casey perform capture the spontaneity of their amorous liaison, one that burns bright and just as quickly fades. Thought “Dandelion” steers away from an idyllic resolution, choosing instead drama that pushes the heroine to self-reflection, Riegel doesn’t entirely avoid falling for expected narrative turns, which traps the movie somewhere in the space of not being entirely unoriginal but simultaneously overly familiar.
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