The 1980’s and ‘90’s have become a popular setting for recent works of fiction, most notably on ABC’s The Goldbergs and Netflix’s Stranger Things. But rarely do these productions look like they were made in the era, which is how Strawberry Mansion feels. Part of the Sundance Film Festival’s experimental NEXT category, the film is a real curiosity both in its concept and approach to telling the story.
Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Set in a future that looks like the past, James Preble (Kentucker Audley) is a government dreams auditor in a world where dreams are recorded and citizens pay a tax on items they dreamed about that have a real-world monetary value. Assigned to audit aging eccentric Arabella “Bella” Isadora (Penny Fuller), who lives alone in a strawberry-red house of curiosities, James sets about going through thousands of recorded dreams on VHS with a primitive VR headset, but uncovers a dark plot he wasn’t prepared for.
Directors and writers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley were seemingly inspired by Christopher Nolan in addition to nostalgia for the VHS era. The plot mixes original ideas with what feel like borrowed concepts from both Inception and Interstellar. There’s a dream-within-a-dream theme that dominates the third act, which drastically changes the tone of the film and yields an unsatisfying conclusion.
The highlight of the film is the exploration of the surreal nature of dreams, with Penny Fuller’s performance standing out amongst the cast. Strawberry Mansion also looks like it was filmed 30 years ago, complete with film grain and occasional imperfections. For that reason, the film feels like something you might have stumbled upon at Blockbuster decades ago.
The charade of when the film might’ve been made even extends to the visual effects, which all look of the era. While modern computers certainly played a part, everything looks like pre-Jurassic Park era practical effects. From stop-motion animation to layering visual elements, there’s a delightfully analog approach to filmmaking that gives film buffs reasons to celebrate Strawberry Mansion.
For all it’s nostalgic glory, Strawberry Mansion ultimately has a lackluster ending. A fun, far out premise gets muddled by a literal nightmare conclusion that quirky loses the viewer’s interest and wonder in all that came before. It’s a shame, because the film had a lot of promise going for it up until then.
I give Strawberry Mansion 3 out of 5 stars.