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Plot Summary
Dandelion Dharma is a karmic comedy about three mysterious, eccentric ladies and how their intimate life stories of passion, adventure, romance and survival, inspired a young woman to come to terms with love, loss and letting-go.
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Customer Reviews
DANDELION DHARMA
I LOVED this movie. I saw it at the San Francisco International Women's Film Festival. I'd been going thru a pretty tough time and this movie really spoke to me - pulled me out of my funk. It's inspirational and funny.
In DANDELION DHARMA, a magical tale of love, loss and letting go, we first meet a distraught 20-something determined to rid herself of the final dredges of a failed romance. Brokenhearted, she stands in the community garden plot she shared with her fiance, once a reflection of their vibrant love for each other, now a barren weed-filled piece of land. Suddenly, she's interrupted by three old women who appear on the garden path; reluctantly she listens as the eccentric women eventually befriend and ultimately beguile her with their stories.
Emma - an 80-year old feisty Brit and WWII fighter test pilot; Liah - a 70-something Hispanic beauty and former owner of a whorehouse in Guadalajara, and “Mad” Sonja - a hip reefer-smoking ex-dancer – are the best of friends who seem to know the most private details of the main character's life. The three women surprise her with their power of persuasion, as they become intimate sharing laced brownies and shots of vodka, as well as stories of failed romance and their own “Mr. Wrong.” Savoring every detail of their touching and humorous accounts, the lead continues to fall under the spell of these quirky wise women.
Following their tales of love, where “beginnings come from endings, endings from beginnings,” her perception of life, love and reality changes, as she unexpectedly uncovers new meaning to “letting go.”
DIRECTOR'S POV by Veronica DiPippo
DANDELION DHARMA is a film about the mysterious nature of life and how it twists and turns in ways we can’t possibly foresee or even imagine.
Like myself, I know everyone has experienced those seemingly impossible moments in our lives when the odds of so-called “coincidences” are too infinitesimal to calculate. Problem is: most of us don’t take the time to reflect upon their meaning. We allow whatever emotions we’re experiencing at any given moment to blind us to a broader perspective. That’s what’s happening with my main character, Trudy, at the beginning of the film. Unable to see past her suffering, she is on the verge of making a terrible choice. One whose results I am personally all too familiar with.
During the Great Depression, my grandmother chose to end her life by jumping off the Staten Island Ferry. This action forged a chain of negative reactions that changed dozens of people’s lives and still resonates to this very day. I wanted to make a film about how each life is a link that can influence countless other lives and that, even in our darkest moments, it’s important to stay committed to the journey.
I have often wondered what would have happened if “someone” had arrived and stopped my grandmother at precisely the right moment. The characters of Emma, Liah and Sonja are my three ultimate “someones” whose surprising life stories offer the ideal formula of wisdom and show the connectedness of all things. I believe that such “someones” can be found around us every day, if we would only allow ourselves to see them.
With a nod from my ever-inspiring, Co-Producer, Composer, Sound Designer husband, Marc Aramian, I began planning DANDELION DHARMA’S production from the time I wrote it in late 2006. Writing the script was more like taking dictation. It came to me one day in its entirety and the filmed version of the screenplay was virtually the same. The character of Trudy embodies those moments of impulsive despair we’ve all felt, when we wonder what it would be like to end our lives and be past our pain. Emma, Liah and “Mad” Sonja were all at once real to me. Their quirky natures, unusual histories and distinct voices all seemed to write themselves.
Writing and directing DANDELION DHARMA was truly a cathartic experience. It was an opportunity to bring an “epic” vision to life that had deep personal meaning. And, along the course of this two-year journey from initial concept to fruition, I discovered that this vision resonated with dozens of amazingly talented industry professionals who sacrificed a huge amount of time and energy in order to help me.
I have dedicated this film to my mother who, at age five, was left sitting alone on a ferry boat one terrible day; and to all those who – as they look at their garden of life – choose not to focus on the weeds, but rather, on the infinite possibilities that each day holds.
- Veronica DiPippo
Dadelion Dharma
This is a very delightful and fun film. Definitely a must see for the connoisseur of good film making.
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