ZombieDog’s rating: “Every great dream begins with a dreamer.” (H. Tubman)

ZombieDog’s review: I don’t expect you to like the movies I like. I don’t expect you to even think that I have good taste in films. The only thing I would hope is that you grant me that I have my own opinion. Sharing your likes and dislikes is a difficult thing to do. I don’t want to be a critic of film; I want to be an advocate for the films that I find enjoyable. This does put me in a difficult spot from time to time because some films that I find enjoyable… might only be enjoyable for me. I would ask that you hear me out though, because I believe we are all in the same predicament when it comes to finding people who see the world the way we do.

Strawberry Mansion has been on my pile to watch for a while now. I saw the description when it came out and instantly grabbed it for a future viewing opportunity. I like to write out of my comfort zone because I think it pushes me forward into areas I wouldn’t normally go. My comfort zone is absolutely ’80s films. I grew up then, and  I feel like the ’80s was a great decade for movies. Strawberry Mansion has some of that spirit of experimentation from ’80s movies but also an indie vibe from the early ’90s when the Sundance Film Festival was king.

This movie, taking place in 2035, is about an auditor who is responsible for people who don’t pay their taxes on their dreams. In this world, there’s a device by your bed that records your dreams, and when you wake up you submit your dream to be taxed. Various items in your dream are taxable but in general a dream costs about five dollars or so.

Preble (Kentucker Audley) is investigating Bella (Penny Fuller), who hasn’t paid her taxes in 20 years. When he arrives at her house, she is extremely welcoming and instantly invites him in. At first it makes her seem a little crazy, although she genuinely has an fondness for him. Once inside Bella’s house, Preble discovers that Bella has been recording her dreams on an outdated format (which looks like a VHS tape) for the past decades. He informs her that he’s going to have to go through all these tapes to determine what she owes. Bella is not phased and offers him a room and food for the duration, which Preble reluctantly accepts.

Strawberry Mansion is about consciousness, unconsciousness, and the space in between, told in a very surreal art-like style. It’s not going to be for everybody, swimming in the deep end of the pool and requiring intense focus and mental energy to actually interpret what’s happening. The reward is that you get to experience somebody else’s view of reality. This movie plays with reality and dreams as though they are interchangeable.

This is not to say that there is not some form of objective reality, there absolutely is and it comes crashing in to Preble’s life. About midway through, Preble discovers that they are putting ads in people’s dreams to make them buy things à la Futurama. This is not played off as a joke, as Preble takes this very seriously.

With knowledge comes danger, and it turns out that Bella’s son is the CEO of the company that is responsible for putting advertisements in people’s dreams. When Bella unexpectedly passes, the son shows up just to make sure his secret has not been discovered. Preble lets him know that he is going to tell the powers that be and let him suffer the consequences of his actions. Shortly after Preble gets a bowling pin upside the head and is knocked unconscious and left for dead.

I’ll come right out and say it this is a difficult film to watch, even though it kept my attention the whole way through. We do get hints of a decaying dystopian society that’s due to this dream meddling. In the end though, this is a love story — albeit a very weird one.

One of the problems is that we don’t really get to know the characters other than their surface qualities. I’m not certain if this is done intentionally, or because they ran out of time (or money). The emotions that are expressed on the screen do feel genuine, it’s just, they can be overpowered by the questioning of just how real everything is. If this was done on a computer, say under a virtual reality label, it would have a different feel but almost the same emotion. To make the movie about dreams adds a whole different component. The real problem is as the movie goes on it gets increasingly difficult to tell what’s a dream and what’s reality.

So, is the movie any good? I would say yes, although it is a cautionary yes. I would suggest that you do your homework. Go watch the trailer, read a little about it, then make the time and mental energy to sit down and watch it. There are many times when I found myself going, “what is going on?” This doesn’t mean that you should avoid it, it just means some films take more effort. I do think the trip is worthwhile. It has an old school creative feel combined with independent storytelling. Both of these two aspects combined make for something unique. It’s not great cinema, but Strawberry Mansion will linger in your mind for a while.