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Strawberry Mansion -
With all due respect to writers/directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney and their imaginations, this isn't far off from what would happen if David Lynch and Wes Anderson collaborated, with perhaps David Cronenberg along for the ride as a consultant. It posits a sadly believable future in which the powers at be have access to one of our last refuges: our dream lives. In our dream taxman hero, Preble (Audley), we have a fitting Winston Smith for our times: a person who values his dream life more than the next guy, but who has resigned himself to working for those who treat them as just another source of revenue. That brings us to his "dream auditee," Bella (Fuller), who seems just as out of place in our current lonely world as she does in the movie's speculative 2030s: someone who wants to share her dreams with someone else. Their resulting adventure is equal parts whimsical, funny and frightening.
If you're also a fan of movies like Pi and Brazil that rely on obscure and/or obsolete technology, this will be right up your alley. From VHS tapes to the hilariously unwieldy wearable tech Audley and Bella use to interact with the dream world, you can cut the ingenuity with a knife. The same could be said of the dream world itself, which has colors, odds, and ends recalling those in Wes Anderson movies, but that have their own personality and are thankfully not too precious. Audley, Fuller and Glowicki as the younger, dream world Bella are endearing, but it's Phillip's Buddy, a frequently occurring, uh...buddy in Preble's dreams who steals the show. Speaking of, as insidious as dream taxes seem, Audley and Birney manage to devise an evil that's much worse.
In a world where the powers that be gain more and more control of the images we feed our eyes, whether it's what we want to see or what we have to sit through, it begs the question if our imaginations can remain pure or produce anything original anymore. At this point, we can at least be thankful that a movie that's not only like this, but also stands up to those powers slipped through the cracks. If my mentions of other filmmakers who likely inspired it are of any indication, as clever as it is, it’s hardly the most original movie ever made. Even so, its timeliness, personality, boldness as well as its delightfully odd sense of humor make up for it. If you need a reminder that there is value in our dreams and in trying to remember them, this movie will provide it. Just don't be surprised if a saxophone-playing frog waiter makes his way into them afterwards.
With all due respect to writers/directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney and their imaginations, this isn't far off from what would happen if David Lynch and Wes Anderson collaborated, with perhaps David Cronenberg along for the ride as a consultant. It posits a sadly believable future in which the powers at be have access to one of our last refuges: our dream lives. In our dream taxman hero, Preble (Audley), we have a fitting Winston Smith for our times: a person who values his dream life more than the next guy, but who has resigned himself to working for those who treat them as just another source of revenue. That brings us to his "dream auditee," Bella (Fuller), who seems just as out of place in our current lonely world as she does in the movie's speculative 2030s: someone who wants to share her dreams with someone else. Their resulting adventure is equal parts whimsical, funny and frightening.
If you're also a fan of movies like Pi and Brazil that rely on obscure and/or obsolete technology, this will be right up your alley. From VHS tapes to the hilariously unwieldy wearable tech Audley and Bella use to interact with the dream world, you can cut the ingenuity with a knife. The same could be said of the dream world itself, which has colors, odds, and ends recalling those in Wes Anderson movies, but that have their own personality and are thankfully not too precious. Audley, Fuller and Glowicki as the younger, dream world Bella are endearing, but it's Phillip's Buddy, a frequently occurring, uh...buddy in Preble's dreams who steals the show. Speaking of, as insidious as dream taxes seem, Audley and Birney manage to devise an evil that's much worse.
In a world where the powers that be gain more and more control of the images we feed our eyes, whether it's what we want to see or what we have to sit through, it begs the question if our imaginations can remain pure or produce anything original anymore. At this point, we can at least be thankful that a movie that's not only like this, but also stands up to those powers slipped through the cracks. If my mentions of other filmmakers who likely inspired it are of any indication, as clever as it is, it’s hardly the most original movie ever made. Even so, its timeliness, personality, boldness as well as its delightfully odd sense of humor make up for it. If you need a reminder that there is value in our dreams and in trying to remember them, this movie will provide it. Just don't be surprised if a saxophone-playing frog waiter makes his way into them afterwards.