No wonder: shooting a feature in post-invasion Ukraine is closer to running a military operation with a slate. at one end, patriotic war spectacles like “Killhouse” at the other, with the gems in between few enough to count on one hand. But now, a ray of light arrives in the form of “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,” a film by power couple Isabelle Stever and Anna Melikova, who gamely fold the obstacles of wartime reality into a disarmingly tender drama. And so, on one of the grimmest terrains our present has to offer, Stever arrives at her brightest film to date. Grade: A-“I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming” premiered at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival.