The future is analog in the charming sci-fi indie Strawberry Mansion
Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley handcraft a dystopian future out of cardboard and VHS tape
Film Reviews Strawberry Mansion
In sci-fi movies, the future often looks like a generic kitchen remodel—all burnished steel and minimalist lines. Not so with Strawberry Mansion, Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s film about a dystopian tomorrow where even dreams have been monetized. Although it’s set in the year 2035, Strawberry Mansion has a charming handcrafted aesthetic, creating its futuristic world out of crochet and cardboard and yards upon yards of VHS tape. That speaks, of course, to the project’s low-budget origins. But it’s also consistent with its anti-corporate mentality, a storybook celebration of imagination unencumbered by branding and consumer culture.
This DIY philosophy is to be expected coming from Audley, who’s been a fixture of micro-budget, mumblecore-adjacent American movies since the early 2000s. Here, the director-writer-actor stars as James Preble, an unquestioning cog in a government machine that requires citizens to hook themselves up to a device that records their dreams and analyzes them for taxation purposes. One day, he’s sent to audit Bella (Penny Fuller), an aging multimedia artist who’s figured out how to circumvent dream taxes with a helmet that records her subconscious visions on VHS tape. Faced with the overwhelming task of combing through decades’ worth of videos, Preble settles into Bella’s guest room and prepares to stay for a while. But the longer he visits, the more he finds himself converting to Bella’s anti-surveillance worldview—not to mention falling in love with the younger version of her (Grace Glowicki) who appears in her dreams.
But this analog reverie is not to last. As Preble and Bella marvel at the stop-motion skeletons and frog waiters who populate her nighttime world, forces are gathering to force her to incorporate brands like Cap’n Kelly’s chicken and Red Rocket cola into her dreams. This is where Strawberry Mansion begins to resemble a fantasy adventure along the lines of The Neverending Story or The Wizard Of Oz, crossing time and space while paradoxically remaining in a single location. Perhaps the most enchanting aspect of the film is its understanding of dream logic, working external plot points into fantastical narratives that make their own kind of internal sense. “One night we turned into beets,” Preble explains in voiceover narration—random, except not really, once you remember that real-world Bella and real-world Preble had beets for dinner the previous evening.
Strawberry Mansion isn’t as satisfying on a storytelling level. The film only tosses in Hail Mary plot developments when absolutely necessary, preferring to linger in Bella and Preble’s literal dream world where whimsy rules and anything is possible. This is, of course, consistent with the overall ethos of the project, which rejects rigid conformity in all its manifestations. But the battle for the characters’ minds—and, by extension, all of human imagination—can be narratively underwhelming.
Still, there’s a lot to appreciate about Strawberry Mansion as an aesthetic object, a flight of imagination, and a sci-fi vision. Its message is political, but it’s not interested in conking viewers over the head with its themes. The music, by composer Dan Deacon, knows when to shimmer and when to swell. The filmmakers combine celluloid grain and green screen to original effect, and the use of color is inspired. (How many brainwashing chambers have you seen that are painted the shade of strawberry gelato?) With eccentricity like that guiding the filmmaking, perhaps it’s to be expected—and easily forgiven—that Strawberry Mansion wanders off to chase butterflies.
23 Comments
I know Kentucker Audley from “Sun Don’t Shine”, but he’s also done some sarcastic youtuber cinephile video-essays:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTQ05MRK4KA-I9Vmi5fC5HKDMfxXLlSOF
Looks familiar. I’ve got all the original airings of The X-Files in this closet.
For the people who hate everything being a reboot, rehash, remake these are the types of films you have to see whether you like it or not. The more shoestring indie-as-all-hell films succeed the more likely they are to get funded and made.
Eh, that’s a false dichotomy. Things don’t have to be an uncreative superhero reboot or a zero budget indie fare. You can actually have major motion pictures with large budgets that actually have an original story.
True, but Christopher Nolan can only make one movie at a time, badum-tssh.It’s less about a binary choice, and more about nudging the ship. Hollywood bean counters will always go where the risk is smallest. By making a point of throwing our ticket money at the smaller indies, we can make originality a touch safer, financially speaking, and they’ll be marginally more likely to venture from the franchise shallows.
It’s possible, but doesn’t happen a lot these days. The major studios might make one “risky” picture a year. The rest will all sacrifice art if it threatens the profit.
It’s possible, but doesn’t happen a lot these days. The major studios might make one “risky” picture a year. The rest will all sacrifice art if it threatens the profit.
This reminds me of when I used to live by a local sub shop. I preferred a locally-owned business to a McDonald’s or an empty storefront… but it also wasn’t very good. The idea of supporting something I might not like (many indie movies) in order to avoid something corporate or nothing at all is a tough decision.That being said, this movie actually does sound interesting and is something I want to check out.
i see you are familiar with glbtq cinema, lmao.
It doesn’t really work that way. Be nice if it did!
“Kentucker Audley” is a name.
Of an excommunicated priest turned werewolf hunter turned riverboat gambler.
…with a secret.
I like that the werewolf/excommunication/inveterate gambler stuff is all in the open, but he has something else a secret.
those guys have way more believable names
Kentucker? I just met ‘er!
“Strange, it seems I’m not vocalizing every syllable,” Tom said audley.
Presumably the sun shines bright on his home.
This sounds a little like Lapsis, which I enjoyed. Is my definition of small budget/indie/political sci-fi too broad?
So, where does the lady get the VHS tapes? They can’t all be old, because VHS tapes don’t exactly have the longevity of vinyl.
He really shouldn’t act in his own films
I have been to the Strawberry Mansion. The Starberry Mansion was in Central Florida, and this sirrah is no Strawbery Mansion.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Lee_House
This looks so good. I dont have anything clever to say, just I can’t wait to check it out.