Dreams are a great cinematic staple; from Hitchcock’s Spellbound to Chris Nolan’s Inception, the mystery of what goes on in our nogs while we’re asleep is a subject that’s regularly addressed. Wim Wenders explored the idea of recording our dreams in his seminal Until the End of the World, and some similar technology turns up in abstract indie fantasy Strawberry Mansion, a Sundance premiere that has a touch of Michel Gondy’s oddness and a welcome serving of ethereal romance..
Written and directed by Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley, Strawberry Mansion isn’t an easy film to summarise, but here goes. It’s 2035. The government have developed intrusive technology that allows them to tax our dreams. James Preble (Audley) has exactly that task, and arrives at Strawberry Mansion, the bucolic home of Arabella Isadora (Penny Fuller) an elderly woman who lives with her pet tortoise and has managed to record her own dreams on VHS tapes. Preble, symbolising how the government may know the value of everything and the importance of nothing, begins to burrow through a mountain of VHS, and starts to dream that he’s falling for a younger version (Grace Glowicki) of the artist in his dreams, and even after Isadora dies, their relationship continues…
The idea of falling in love with someone in a dream was previously explored in an equally enigmatic way in Alain Resnais’ arthouse classic Last Year in Marienbad, but not with the garish, poppy visuals featured here; there’s blue demons that look like they’ve popped over from a live-action Power Rangers series, there’s giant sailor rats, people turn into caterpillars, it’s not always easy to tell what’s going on, but maybe that’s right for a film that’s about the tortured logic of the dream.
That commitment to the weird and abstract world of the mind means that Strawberry Mansion is consistently engaging, but not always empathetic to watch; it’s hard to root for the characters when the narrative is so deliberately off-kilter. But Strawberry Mansion is always something of a treat to watch, with loopy, gloopy Alice in Wonderland visuals that may be lo-fi, but give the film a fairly unique visual quality. Strawberry Mansions is a very odd and often endearing film; if you’re in the mood for something very strange but also rather likeable, Strawberry Mansion is the place to go.
Dream tax? Don’t they do that already? I am sure we are teaxed as much when we are asleep as when we are awake.
I find being awake very taxing, surely that’s enough…
We used to have “midnight shows” where films like the Rocky Horror Picture Show would run every Friday and Saturday late night. This looks like a prime candidate for that midnight crowd, who would be in the right “frame of mind.”
You hound get the Sam effect from filling your blender with wild mushrooms and drinking the lot. Maybe that’s what I should have done…
You can get the same effect….I’m quite sober, it’s just the tiny keys on my phone…
Pfft!
What have I done now?
Yeah, nope.
Fair enough.
I did watch the trailer twice, so there’s that.
You get a gold star and can get crayons to draw a monster for finishing early.
Thanks! I’d rather draw a Sausage Mansion.
That sounds good, have you got a screener for me to review?
Nope. It’s a dream.
Lorne, square or link sausages?
All of the above.
Any condiments for the table? Would you like to see the wine list?
I hadn’t envisioned you as the butler in my mansion, but you’d do at a push.
Very good, mi’lady. An after dinner mint? Or shall I allow the wine to breathe? I’ll get the decanter…
Tally-ho.
Sorry, I just can’t 🙂 The trailer was just too out there. Glad you enjoyed it, but I’d have to get through all of the 70’s before I even considered this!
I’ll issue a pass under these circumstances, but you’d better get the 70’s homework in!
Thanks professor!
My academic paper on the cultural meanings within Body Rock is still as yet presented in a public forum. Just sayin’.
Damm revenuers!
That’s why you gotta hide your dream still in a good hiding place so they can’t find it….
I thought you would dig that; government interference at its worst! Riots in the streets!
Thank goodness I stocked up on dream ammo. That stuff ain’t cheap….
Mashed or sauteed?
I went with the boiled. It was about half the price of the 2 options you mentioned.
So instead of 2 truckloads of potato dream ammo, I got FOUR truckloads. Now that is some yankee thrift right there my friend…
You’ll take my potato from my cold, dead hand. Fact!
Conan would be proud of you!
Weirdness is big these days. Trailer looks like they may be trying too hard.
I did enjoy watching this, but if you thought that Gondy’s world was weird, this goes further….