REEL | Jonathan Majors Pumps Iron – 'Magazine Dreams'

"I've been training for this every moment of my entire life."

Briarcliff Entertainment

Troubled star Jonathan Majors embodies an aspiring bodybuilder who dreams of sculpted stardom in writer/director Elijah Bynum's long-delayed, darkly obsessive indie drama. Full of disturbing themes, intersecting glamour and violence, Magazine Dreams follows Majors' Killian as he struggles to find any semblance of human connection with others while pursuing his superficial craft.

Surrounding Majors' intense, powder keg performance, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, and professional bodybuilder Mike O'Hearn contrast him as brighter, sunnier characters in small roles that only further heighten his dark tendencies. Prone to bouts of frustration and acts of violence exasperated by his steroid use, Killian fails to properly express himself or his emotions through normal methods, particularly when he's working out at the gym, bagging groceries, or on a date.

While easy comparisons to the social male isolation of something like Taxi Driver can be made, the film further twists certain masculine elements by slyly commenting on the inherent homoeroticism of bodybuilding and its supposed sexual ideals of "Mr. Olympia". Still, something is missing from the lo-fi character drama about a dark soul looking for some sort of hopefulness or salvation from the everyday trappings of his drab life or menial existence on the outskirts of fame.


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