User reviews

A film about taxes and dreams, and then a love that seems to transcend the latter (or take place within the latter), Strawberry Mansion is also about taxing dreams, and some potential conspiracy about advertising in dreams. There are lots of dreams. It is unsurprisingly dreamlike and there's something undeniably impactful about it, but I feel like I got lost in both good ways and bad.

Still, more good than bad. I mostly liked this a lot. It's creatively fantastical for something that doesn't look big budget, and I like how so much stuff that sounds goofy on paper was presented with sincerity. It commits to a deeply strange logic and always feels consistent to itself, though I wished I was able to keep up entirely. Some parts are quite moving in ways that are hard to describe.

The experience it provides makes it more than worth digging out. I also thought the music was incredible, and it was cool to learn Dan Deacon was behind it (have heard at least one of his albums before).

At the end of the day, I feel like there's a lot that could be said about Strawberry Mansion; maybe even too much. But I can't say much at the moment. Whether seeing it again or reading up on it will unlock more of its secrets remains to be seen. For all I know, maybe everyone else is similarly lost (again, this is mostly a good thing; feels generally intentional, if just the tiniest bit frustrating).

Oh, it was also funny how much one of the supporting actors in this looked like Nick Offerman.

Basically just a bunch of things that didn't make sense and didn't have to make sense because it all takes place in someone's mind and since that's where it takes place then it can't be bad or wrong because it's their minds story. See what I'm getting at? Writer Producer Director tells you it makes sense because it all takes place in the brain and the brain is ever-changing and ever-weird -- so deal with it. Nope!!!!! Sorry, it doesn't work like that -- you still need a story. Can't throw a bunch of weird hi$ in there and call it an avant garde film. It gets a 5 because I appreciate the weird and strange but the whole film stinks of a college / Film school project. As a side note the human sized talking mice stole the show for me.

The idea is interesting. With a better director, could be a good movie, but it is just too slow. It just drags

One scene, for example, should be full of tension, a race between life and death for the protagonist, with his real life world presenting a clear and present danger, but we spend such a long time in the dream world, with people exchanging looks. If it had been just that little bit tighter, the concept would have been exquisite, with our own plot driven stress overlaying the dream sequence and bringing an urgency to it that contrasted with the sequence's laziness.

But that's not what happened. I got so bored I lost interest. Nearly twenty minutes before the narration kicks in and describes the centuries spent in the dream space. Well, at least I didn't have to watch it.

Maybe more a judgement of my own lack of focus? Perhaps, but maybe a tighter cut would have be transformative.

Give it a try, it's better than half the movies coming out in cinema these days, I wish this had show at my local Cinemas. Decent acting and good comedy.

Strawberry Mansion isn't perfect, but I have a distinct sense if people understood what it took to deliver the mind-warping visuals delivered thorughout, people would have a lot more respect for it.

This movie appears to be shot in 16mm. In reality, it's a digital film, incorporating stop motion animation, CGI, live action and animation as part of a coherent whole, which was then 'filmed out'' to 16mm. There are only three film labs in the U. S. that can process 16mm film-outs. In the case of Strawberry Mansion, the aspect ratios don't match up, and so the film's original widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio had to be squeezed into the 4:3 aspect ratio of 16mm.

This warps the image but offers the desired grain that Birney and Audley were after. Then the film was printed onto 400-foot reels of roughly 10 minutes and 40 seconds each. The film reels are scanned digitally, and then, reversing the squeezing formula, the image is stretched back out to 16:9, eliminating the warped look, but including all that desired film grain. Strawberry Mansion used 7203 Kodak 50D film stock for its film-out.

Why does it matter you ask? Because the script that accompanies it is the stuff of dreams, and if a Gaspar Noe or a Lynch had delivered this, it would be deemed a box office success (sadly, Strawberry Mansion didn't do so well).

The acting is on point, and while it's true that at time you can 'see through' some of the magic which kills the initial immersion, it's still a marvel of dedicated filmmaking with a very strong main arc, an insightful foray into a future dystopia and a bloody good representation of the human psyche viewed through a dream.

Yes, it's a hard sell, but I admire the Directors for bringing this to life, as it's easily a 20m $ concept shot on a shoestring budget with amazing results. It may not cut as deep as some indy marvels out there, but as a friend recommended me the other day, why constantly give movies on imdb 1 or 10s? Strawberry Mansion confortably sits at a 7, and with a little bit more cash, could have easily pulled an 8.5.

A must watch for any movie lover, or anyone who still have that child-like appreciation for magic, but don't want to be spoon fed a Disney (tm) milquetoast production.

This movie reminded me of an episode of The Mighty boosh, if directed by Wes Anderson.

The main character in this movie, I thought was Julian Barrett Howard moon in the Mighty Boosh but it turns out it just looks a lot like him.

I enjoy The Whimsy and creativity of the film, that's what I most will take away. But I don't like was the style of surreal acting, it was very reminiscent of the movie the room with Tommy Wiseau-- just not my cup of tea.

This movie demonstrates creativity on a shoestring budget, a cool concept, but something overall was lacking. It just doesn't have the emotional connection or wow factor of a Wizard of Oz or a Pan's Labyrinth.

If anything, this movie will inspire writers and low budget directors to challenge themselves making a cool concept, low budget film.

Take some Plympton from early MTV, spice with obvious heavy-handed speech about advertising and capitalism, and mix it with a boring sound design from a 1970s student film. There, I saved you one hour and a half of retro effects and furry customes. Since I'm in 2021 and I have seen Satoshi Kon movies and Mind Game by Masaaki Yuasa this film feels pedestrian and undeveloped.

The greatest surrealist love story since Brazil.

This film takes you on a chaoticly beautiful journey through a fantastical dreamscape that leaves you mesmerized and pondering throughout the entire feature. This movie is quirky, odd, funny, imaginative and above all hopeful. If you have the ability to embrace the abstract and bizarre you will love the journey that it takes you on.

The writing/directing duo of Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney manage to navigate through dreams in an unpretentiously fun manner without sacrificing the narrative (too much).

Watch this weirdness and know beauty.

I loved this movie! The aesthetic is very pretty, I got a bit Wes Anderson-, "The adventures of Baron Munchhausen"-, and Terry Gilliam-vibes from it.

The plot is very interesting. I don't understand the people here that says it doesn't make sense. Yes, it's surreal and the weirdness factor is through the roof, which probably is what confuses them. But I love weird and surreal movies that isn't obvious in any way. I hate being spoon fed what a movie is about (which is probably why I hate new and modern films). I like there to be shrouded parts you really have to think about, and movies you might have to see more than one or two times to get the full picture. Strawberry Mansion is just like that!

It's obvious it is on an bit of a budget, but I think that only adds to the charm. The length was good, but maybe they could've tightened the entire thing up a little bit.

To me it is a good sign when the reviews of a movie is either from people who loved it or from people who hated it, and almost no one that was just "Eh...". To me that is a sure sign the movie is interesting and worth a watch.

Anyway...I loved it and I'll definitely see it several times again!

If you can get past 15 minutes good luck. I stuck with it for an hour but had to switch it off.

Do you like your movies a bit odd and maybe a little rough around the edges? This is your jam, right here. One of those films that's full of heart and eccentricity, light on telling you exactly what to think about it. I love the retro futurist look, super indie but very charming. Acting isn't bad, either, and fits with the aesthetic.

5/10 feels so brutal for this playful offering but, just like Audley's IMDb profile picture, I'm struggling to find the character amongst the style. Like, I can't even locate a Sartrean character whose ideal is to negate reification of character.

Mostly, I think there was a problem with the pacing that prevented me from engaging. Also, some of the writing felt a bit naive, in the kind of way that it is ambiguous enough to be taken as irony, which I feel is a bit of a cop out, sometimes. Writers in this kind of genre should reach out to philosophers and literary professors... but, whatever, where's my movie aye.

It's nice to watch a movie that truly has original ideas and it's really beautiful to take it all in.

This is not a movie to watch if you want a super organized plot, this is a surreal movie and I really think it's good to go into knowing that and just enjoy the ride. Beautiful sets and interesting characters along the way This movie is a work of art and I hope it gets the appreciation it deserves.

We all had the weirdest dreams before, and we all tried to explain them once we woke up. It's intriguing because it's our dreams and we would like to know why we dream such weird things. This movie is also weird, it's also about dreams, but it's about somebody else's dreams so it's just boring to watch. I don't know what kind of drugs the writers took, but I for sure don't want any of them. I honestly don't know what they tried to achieve with this movie but whatever it is they failed. There is good weird and there's bad weird, and in this case it's just bad. I wouldn't waste your time with this one.

If you prefer imagination over spectacle, story over CGI, and heart over the sameness and blandness of many movies being released today then this film is for you.

The production value isn't top notch but the story and ideas are original, inventive and exciting. This film percolates in your mind long after viewing.

It's an enjoyable and satisfying journey which I'm sure to take again and again through repeated viewings.

Look, I realize it was low budget, but there weren't any redeeming qualities about this film. It was predictable, lackluster, and frankly trying too hard to be deep. I watched the entire thing expecting it to be a home project or high school video production assignment, but some of the actors were in other legitimate movies. Maybe I missed something but it's almost like it was intentionally bad, hopefully the producers had seen "The Producers" and this wasn't the same sort of situation. Parts of it were random to the point of without direction or purpose, as if someone had just taken several ideas and thrown them together. There was also a serious lack of world building.

What I loved so much about this film is how it is so obviously handcrafted. With so much love.

This is a world that feels like a dream, but a tangible lived in dream.

I was spellbound from the beginning by the intricate beauty of the movie. From the production design to the heartfelt and wonderfully quirky characters.

This is film of pure imagination. And while it's an escape I think everyone can come away with core understanding about what I means to be alive. In all it's colours.

I felt like I'd encountered an endangered animal, having the pleasure of being whisked away by this work of art on the big screen.

It's messy, and strange and flawed and oh, so human.

A magical masterpiece, food for the movie goers soul.

An indie in the truest sense of the word. This very oddball film is co-directed, co-written and co-starring an actor with a long resume of mostly small independent films, Kentucker Audley. This whimsical science fiction tale of a time when people are taxed on certain items that they dream about. Mr. Audley plays the taxman and he is investigating an elderly woman who hasn't been audited in 6 years who obviously owes the government a bit of money. While everyone else's dreams are recorded digitally, this elderly woman has recorded all of her dreams on VHS tapes of which she has about 2000 leaving the taxman with a lot to do. There is more to it than that, but let's just say that he becomes more involved with her dreams than he should. I'd love to compliment this unusual story, and I can a little, but as it goes along it becomes too jumbled and crudely made for me to enjoy all that much. I do applaud its originality though.

Strawberry Mansion is a film you don't see as much of.

In the vein of Gondry's films like Science of Sleep or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Strawberry Mansion is utterly charming, using everything from a dreamy score, stop motion and great prop and set design to tell a heartwarming tale of love and dreams.

To say this dream is surreal is an understatement. Surreal is fine; it has its purpose. But that's the problem with this movie; it seems to have no purpose. A brainwashed man waking up to reality? Real life is actually the dream? Who knows... they never really say.

The movie starts off showing all the promise of a true masterpiece, and raised my expectations due to the excellent acting, directing and choreography. But about halfway through the skill and professionalism suddenly turned into something that had all the appearance of a college project running out of funding and time.

The ending is a disappointment as the viewer realizes throughout the entire film no actual point has been made. Is there too much commercialism in our lives? We already know that. Is our society brainwashed by ads and lead to believe we need to buy things that we don't need at all. That is pretty obvious. This film is a long way to go to make obvious points.

In the end what we're left with is a big question mark as to what the writers and director are intending to portray. And despite the enjoyable surrealism-- that surrealism is without point. (The Blue Demon holding a captive really makes no sense at all, as it ties in to absolutely nothing else in the film.) The ending just kind of flops. One hopes to the bitter end they have a purpose to all this, but too late we figure out that if they ever did... they didn't get it across to the viewing audience.

Some people will love this for the art and abstract nature. That's fine. (The solid pink room was a solid start.) Others will dislike it for its totally disjointed and pointless final half... and they won't be wrong. Go into this one with both eyes open and a strong drink.

This movie does not spoonfeed you and it's message (such as there is one) is shrouded in metaphor and illusion. It's certainly not for me everyone, but if you don't mind waiting to see what happens then you might just enjoy it. Oh, and the music adds another entire dimension and simply added to my enjoyment!

Some reviewers saw similarities with Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam films, which there are but it also cuts its own path. Definitely recommended if your prepared to let if do its thing!

Slightly different, creative and thought provoking film based upon dreams set it a futuristic time period (apparently taken place in 2035). This is an independent film with seemingly complete control from the writers, director of the film.

It does start off interesting and we are intrigued in seeing where it leads. Unfortunately it becomes somewhat of a confusing mess with a branch of ideas that are confusing and doesn't exactly fulfill its end game potential. Around the part where the eldest son of the elderly woman enter the home. From there on, it's clear the son is disturbed by the man eventually leading to him knocking him out with an apparent bowling pin leading to the dreams.

In these dreams there are weird bizarre characters such as sailor people with rat heads, a waiter with a frog head playing a trumpet, these other demon like creatures. The island scenery is nice then the love angle feels entirely forced.

As this lengthy dream is happening, in the real time he is knocked out laid unconscious surrounded by a burning house fire. Of course he eventually wakes up and leaves. We question what exactly was the purpose.

I can't pretend I wasn't shocked by the rating of this film here. Strawberry mansion is a beautifully shot piece of art that deserves more recognition and praise. The direction, scoring, imagery, and acting are all romantic, and somewhat poignant, at all times throughout the setting of the film, and it's enough to make you feel as if you are walking with these characters through their experience. An instant cult classic, a fever dream for the wake, and a story of true love; it has it all. If you like to venture off the beaten path, this one is for you. If you're more into stories of repetition and predictability, maybe skip this one.