What if your dreams weren’t your own? The very thing humans have been free to create subconsciously and consciously is no longer a private and unique experience. The very Charlie Kaufmanesque Strawberry Mansion, written and directed by Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, explores this strange world reminiscent of the one in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, in which government surveillance has become rampant, but don’t be fooled. The film isn’t entirely a nightmare. It is a fantastical journey of love and the undying spark of creativity within humanity. The romance intertwined throughout the story that takes center stage is, quite truly, the stuff of dreams.
In the not so distant future of 2035, our dreams are taxed by the government. James Preble (Kentucker Audley) is an overworked dream auditor. He spends the majority of his waking hours sifting through other people’s dreams to find out how much money they owe the government. His own dreams are almost formulaic, anxiety riddled nightmares where he spends most every night searching desperately for something he never has, only to have a friend arrive known simply as Buddy, in the nick of time, bearing the exact gifts needed. James is sent to audit the dreams of an older, eccentric woman named Arabella Isadora, played wonderfully by Penny Fuller, who lives in a large and unusual house known as Strawberry Mansion. Her vivaciousness and home become an oasis to James. While going through Bella’s dreams, he observes her younger self, played by Grace Glowicki, and something is unlocked within his mind. He soon finds himself lost in a strange mixture of both Bella’s dream world and his own, causing him to question his own reality.
Kentucker Audley shines in the role of James Preble and brings to it the same quiet confidence present in previous works like his gentle film, Christmas, Again. He is mild mannered and soft spoken with sad eyes. Even though the character of James seems to be locked in the repetition of day to day life, there is a sense of longing for something more. The world is dull to him, but he has no reason to question it. Not stepping outside the lines has brought him success in the financial sense, and he has food and shelter, so what more does he need? Bella’s house and land are lively and vibrant, a stark contrast to the life and city James has just left, so he is stirred from his daunting sleepwalk through life.
Some of the best films are the ones that are more ambiguous or thought exercises for the audience. This is definitely one of those films. At its core, the theme of isolation and loneliness resulting from thought control and manipulation in a world that doesn’t nurture creativity and original thought is ever present. Losing the natural beauty of the world right in front of us is a devastating blow to humanity. Bella mentions to James after he has been working with her for a few days, “I just wanted someone to share my dreams with.” She is a dreamer who lives a more authentic life in touch with her creativity and passion outside of the mind controlled society that James comes from, but she has been punished for her wild imagination by being forced into a kind of exiled existence. She has been misunderstood her entire life, and even when she was in a marriage it was very one-sided with a man who never bothered to learn the other facets of her brain. James immediately has a connection to the most wild and untamed version of herself and a love is born out of that connection. The whole reality is so surreal that it almost seems like James has been living in a dream his entire life, and the only time anything has been real is when he is spending time with Bella–within and outside of her dreams. Everything is like a dream within a dream which makes this movie all the more beautiful. Maybe he has always been drawn to her in this giant dreamscape. There are so many lifetimes that can be lived within the space of dreams, and this love flows through every single one of them.
Once James’s eyes have been opened to this technicolor world, he is unable to go back, but the old world still doggedly grips his feet, desperately trying to drag him back at every turn. Bella and James must go on a seemingly endless journey to find a way back to one another, and Audley and Birney effortlessly meld the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure together to form an enchanting and moving tale. Where it is easy for films of this multi-genre to become too bloated and cryptic, Strawberry Mansion merely dabbles in trippy and does not draw out the story longer than it needs to be. It clocks in at a concise ninety-one minutes.
Strawberry Mansion is a swirl of dream logic. The story seems to loop in on itself at times, but that isn’t necessarily a detriment. Dreams often don’t make sense, and the invented stakes are always higher than they would be in reality. Audley and Birney bring this intensity and anxiety along with the staggering sensation of having a dream’s leftover emotions and ideas linger and nag you throughout your waking hours to the film. The characters are constantly racing against the clock to figure out specific and often random pieces to a puzzle to reach some sort of safety. It is something most of us have experienced when we dream. “Ah, yes, of course, the only way out of this plummeting plane is a levitating potato that I just so happened to randomly stick in my bag.” Some viewers may find this disorienting or hard to follow, but it is well worth the journey to fall down into the rabbit hole.
This film was a joy to experience visually. It was shot digitally but then given a 16mm film transfer afterwards which gives it a hazy and dreamlike quality that perfectly matches the story being told. The warmth emanates through the screen. The production design also has a Wes Anderson feel to it at times with bright, pastel colors and quirky architectural designs. Practical effects were used that give the film a more tactile experience and childlike lens and also appear to be heavily influenced by 80s fantasy films. The wide shots that take place within Bella’s dreams are beautiful and vivid. While the “real world”, away from the strawberry mansion, is a barren wasteland of pavement, gray buildings, and dull advertisement billboards, surrounding the city. It is easy to become immersed within this new reality as soon as the film begins.
Strawberry Mansion artistically explores the fear of mind control and what it would look like to live in such a world. Innermost thoughts and desires are mined and exploited for money, and humans are manipulated into being good consumers. There is no way to find peace. It isn’t too difficult to understand where the filmmakers’ inspiration may have come from. Take a head first dive into the whimsical and bizarre side of life with this film. It is like a new telling of The Odyssey wrapped in a futuristic fairytale and a dazzling feast for the senses that reminds us if we lose our dreams, we just might lose who we are. This one is not to be missed.
Strawberry Mansion is currently playing in select theaters. The film will be available on Digital beginning February 25, 2022.
Directors: Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney
Writers: Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney
Runtime: 91m
Rating: 4 out of 5
When I’m not busy daydreaming or having an existential crisis, I can usually be found watching a movie or TV, listening to music or a podcast, or with my nose in a book.
