Thanks to Lester's review of Living in Oblivion, I put forth some extra effort to find this film. I'm glad I did. I totally agree with his assessment that this is a "great movie." I somehow missed the fact in reading the reviews that it starred Steve Buscemi. I have been a fan of his since his role in Fargo.

The common characteristic of "dream related" films seems to be their differences. I loved this movie just like I loved The Blues Brothers 2000 (beginning with "ghostriders" and through the "tent revival" for those who may not cotton to two hours of corny) and City of Lost Children. All of these films are wonderful in their own unique way.

I'll keep this short (for a change) since Les wrapped it up so well when he emphasized that the film was brilliant in portraying a common dream sign (of his and us all): "repeated failures when attempting to achieve a simple goal." I was getting anxiety just watching it, and the very cool thing about it was that I couldn't stop giggling.

It really is a very entertaining film and wonderfully cast. I'm the second thumb up. /Stephen Berlin

IN DREAMS. This is a 1999 "horror" film starring Annette Bening, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea and Robert Downey, Jr. I can't recall each of their character names.

Here's the general gist. The daughter of Aidan Quinn and Annette Bening had been kidnapped and murdered. Annette begins having dreams of another little girl being abducted. She gets obsessed by these dreams and ends up being committed to a mental hospital.

For me, this was the best part of the movie since my wife and I both work nights at the state mental hospital in Las Vegas. The movie actually did an admirable job of portraying the generally depressing setting and reality of what we do. When Annette was being restrained for medication, believe me, the scene was all too familiar.

Soon Annette discovers - due to scribblings under the wallpaper - that the killer (Robert Downey, Jr.) had once occupied the same room. She believes that he is now intentionally "feeding her" dreams. Annette is lured by the killer and/or these dreams to escape, tries to save the little girl and ends up in his clutches. Or something like that. Things get confusing when movie makers try creative ways to weave dreams into a script.

There is good imagery, I liked the casting and it was fairly entertaining. Just don't be misled by the title into thinking it contains anything meaningful for dreamers. /Stephen Berlin

Hi, adastra,

I quite agree with you about the Matrix. I haven't seen a film which would so accurately convey the mood of going lucid and related buddhist stuff (not even Nirvana with C.Lambert).

Let me in my turn suggest a couple of movies belonging to an English director Peter Grenaway which I had always been preceiving as 'dreamlike', if you like. They are called 'The Baby of Macon' and 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover'. To my mind these feel like expressedly NON-LUCID but quite vivid dreams.

As for Tarkovski, I would defenitely recommend 'The Stalker'. What I best like about this film is again the MOOD which I find one of the most important elements of the dream world.

Regards.

Hi Anton and fellow dreamers

I just came back from a fantastic movie called OPEN YOUR EYES, a Spanish movie made in 1998. This movie is one sure to please oneironauts. To say that it's dreamlike would be an understatement; I was very impressed by how well the director, Alejandro Amenabar, captures dream logic on celluloid. It receives my highest recommendation and I will definately be seeing it again. I won't say anything about the plot, but I will endorse the following statement made by a local reviewer: "If you thought THE MATRIX fucked with your mind, wait till you see what a real headmesser can do."

Dear Lucid Dreamers,

I've seen THE MATRIX some days ago. Generally I liked the idea of the movie. From what I understood, the whole movie is just the very long, vivid and fantastic non-lucid dream of Neo (I guess he isn't familiar with LD at all), sorta REM reboud phenomenon following alcohol abuse and/or sleep deprivation.

What's presented very wrong is that by hurting the virtual (dream) body when the mind is connected to the Matrix, the physical one is also getting hurt. Even in non-lucid dreams there's no any brain action that would do such damage to the physical body, not to say about the LDs.

Second, it must be possible to will yourself awake even when connected to the Matrix, waiting for the phone call isn't necessary.

Finally, it must be possible to become lucid and do anything, since there's no physical body present (and it can't be hurt, as I already said). From what I saw, I guess Morpheus (just look at the name!) is the lucid dreamer, as he can bypass the body limitations ("free your mind", he says to Neo) and make a high jumps or fly in the virtual world, but the next scene, when he's got caught, shows he isn't able to become lucid. It looks like the movie creator doesn't know anything about LDs at all.

Lucid Dreams, Nicholas

Hi Nicholas I also have seen Matrix and saw similar concepts presented in the movie to LDs. I agree with you that not everything in the movie is with agreement to LDs. I'd like to add one more point to your letter - the end scene in the movie. In that scene the actor flew in the air in the middle of the day of a busy street. My impression was that although many people saw him doing it, most of them did not do a reaslity check, as if it was very natural. Sweet Dreams of wisdom Yossi

12-15-1999 Hi gang! A film that appeared on public television in the early 70's and kinda slipped thru the cracks as the old adage goes was "The Lathe of Heaven". I managed to pick up a copy at "Kim's Underground Videos" in New York City, but the movie may not be easy to obtain. It is, however a real must-see for us oneironauts. The hero of the story is arrested for forging prescriptions for speed. Reason he gives for same is that when he sleeps and subsequently dreams, what he dreams becomes reality for the world. An evil psychiatrist assigned to his case tries to usurp our hero's powers for his own aggrandizement. And, yeah, there's a girl (Heather La Losh) and, yeah, they fall in love. Well I don't want to give away the plot. If anyone's seen this little gem beside me, I'd be interested in your views. Namaste! Marz

Thanks Marz :)

That movie must be based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Ursula K. LeGuin, which I found very entertaining when I read it years ago. In the novel version, the psychiatrist tries to use the dreamer's talents to make the world a better place, with bizarre and ultimately disasterous consequences, if I recall correctly. Well worth reading, and probably a lot easier to find than the movie version. (Hmm. The world could use a net-based source of obscure dream-related movies, that's what I think.)

Final Fantasy: Spirits from Within is a movie I've just found out about that is due out on July 11th, and has potential to be very interesting to the lucid dreaming community. I mentioned seeing the preview in a recent Comments and Conversation posting, and today I went to the website http://www.finalfantasy.com/ to read up on it.

The story is set in the mid-21st century, on an earth laid waste by marauding predetory aliens (don't you just hate it when that happens?). The few surviving humans huddle in barricaded cities while the hero of the story, the "brilliant and beautiful Dr. Aki Ross," struggles to find a way to save humanity. Now, here is where the description gets interesting:

Quote:

As the clock ticks down, Aki searches within her dreams to find an answer to the alien mystery, while scouring the Earth to collect the eight spirit waves she believes will save the planet.

This seems to support my feeling during the preview that the movie might actually deal explictly with lucid dreaming. In any case, the computer graphics looked great, and there seemed to be some sort of technologically induced OBE happening at one point. I'm looking forward to seeing this - hopefully it will live up to its potential. Actually, the preview itself was a blast; I'd like to have a copy of that.

Hi everyone. I am no going to attempt to intrigue everyone with my latest mind bender -

Anyone thought about producing a short movie about Lucid Dreaming ?

I feel that for the new and upcoming directors and producers - this would be a fantastic seed to grow into a future classic box office hit.

Perhaps open peoples eyes a lot more to the fact that there is more out there than beer and couch sport ....... hehe

Steven - have you ever been approached by any directors before ?

Cold as Ice, Daniel

FINAL FANTASY: SPIRITS FROM WITHIN is in theatres now, and I went to see it yesterday. I was very pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone interested in lucid dreaming. I won't say much about the plot beyond the fact that it is about a scientist who uses lucid dreaming to try to find an answer to the mystery of an alien invasion of earth. The aliens are sort of "spirit predators" who rip your soul out of your body and devour it. The only other comment I'll make about the movie is that the computer animation is incredibly realistic - at times it was difficult to tell that I wasn't looking at filmed people and objects.

Daniel, I personally love your idea of a short movie about lucid dreaming. I think that computer animation would be a great way to go with that. Or any kind of animation...or live action for that matter. Alright, let's face it - make any movie about lucid dreaming and I'll watch it...

A movie called WAKING LIFE just came out, and although I haven't seen it yet, from what I've heard about it, it sounds like a must-see for lucid dreamers. Roger Ebert gave it a rave review, and it's scripted and directed by Richard Linkletter, which is a very good sign. Ebert says, Quote:

The film's hero, not given a name, is played by Wiley Wiggins as a young man who has returned to the town where once, years ago, a playmate's folding paper toy (we used to call them "cootie catchers") unfolded to show him the words, "dream is destiny." He seems to be in a dream, and complains that although he knows it's a dream, he can't awaken. He wanders from one person and place to another (something like the camera did in Linklater's first film, "Slackers"). He encounters theories, beliefs, sanity, nuttiness. People try to explain what they believe, but he is overwhelmed until finally he is able to see that the answer is--curiosity itself. To not have the answers is expected. To not ask questions is a crime against your own mind.

The full review can be found at http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-waking19f.html.

Also, check out the movie's website, www.wakinglifemovie.com, which shows a drawing of a guy floating in the air and features a dream-related "Question of the Day." One day the question was, "Have you ever had a dream where you knew that you were in a dream?" and the next day it was "Is there really any difference between dreaming and waking life?"

It's an animated movie, described as an unusally realistic, new sort of animation, in which real people were filmed and then animated - which sounds rather dreamlike in itself.

I can't wait to see this!

Wheeeee!

Here is a quote about Linklater's new movie WAKING LIFE, from the local Province newspaper, Oct. 23, 2001:

Quote:

The boyish, 41-year-old director describes his movie as "a realistic depiction of unreality," then grazes through an amiable discussion of dream states, reality versus perception, "eternity on a molecular level" and that "temporal-lobe" problem he thinks explains why his imagination is so weirdly vivid.

The condition he describes is similar to that which convinces some people they have been abducted by aliens - their imagination feels so real to them during those semi-lucid moments between sleep and wakefulness.

"If I knew less about the brain and how it worked, I might have been one of those people," says Linklater of UFO believers.

But Linklater has examined the state of research into what's called "lucid dreaming," during which you are aware that you're asleep - and can even change the dream's outcome - but still can't manage to wake up.

"I have this whole weird dream life that's creative; it's fun," Linklater says. "You can have these creative dreams where you float around and you have conversations. This whole movie was trying to depict that unreal state, those really intense conversations with people, the brainstorming."

But Linklater's dreamscape is designed to shake the viewer awake, however gently. "This movie, to me, is really about awareness," he says. "As you watch, you become aware of the story. The film becomes aware of itself, the same way the character does. It sort of demands that you participate and sort of wake up in it.

"What the character is going through, I want the audience to go through, too. You can't just lose yourself in a film like you normally do. You have to participate, be aware."

Just went to see Waking Life this evening and I certainly recommend it (though I was a little disappointed not to see Stephen LaBerge listed anywhere in the credits, some of the dialogue seems to come right from ETWOLD). I'd say it was good rather than great as movie qua movie, but as a presentation of the dream and lucid dream experience I think it succeeded. Dreamsigns abound along with a basic introduction to LD. Wonder how many people in the audience will have their first lucid dream tonight. The movie begins with that frustrating feeling of being in a dream where things don't seem quite right but you don't make the connection. It then progresses to various levels of lucidity. There were a number of pleasant small shocks of recognition, I especially loved the scene with the light switch. I've been through that! I look forward to reading other people's comments.

Yesterday I went to see WAKING LIFE, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to see it several more times in the theatres and will undoubtedly buy a copy when it becomes available.

The animation style is indeed unique and visually pleasing, with an effect that is reminiscent of a psychedelic trip. The movie consists almost entirely of a series of intense philosophical conversations about life, dreams, death, why we're here, etc. - all within the context of a dream that passes through various levels of lucidity, from the point of view of a character that realizes he's dreaming but can't wake up. He goes through a series of false awakenings and is by turns delighted, curious, and freaked out by his situation.

It's true, Jay, that Stephen LaBerge is not mentioned by name, but that seems to be true of a lot of other people whose ideas are discussed in this movie. I also noticed unattributed references to the ideas of Rupert Sheldrake, Arnold Mindell and Peter Russell, for example. On the other hand, people who are quoted by name range from Kirkegaard to Timothy Leary. The movie covers a lot of intellectual territory, and a lot of the experiential and cognitive territory of lucid dreaming as well.

I was particularly intrigued by the speculations on the possible connection between Dreamland and the Land of the Dead. The morning I went to see the movie I had an interesting (alas, non-lucid) dream in which I'm having an exciting intellectual conversation with a dead friend of mine about books and ideas. Suddenly she leans towards me, says "goodnight," and quickly kisses me - and I wake up, with a wonderful emotional afterglow. It occurs to me that if it was an actual encounter, then from Kalindi's point of view, I was falling asleep into what I consider my "waking life," but which she might now see as a dream. The dream went really well with this wonderful movie.

The lightswitch scene was cool, Jay, but my favorite dreamsigns in the movie were the malfunctioning digital clocks.

I think that lucid dreamers who enjoy discussing the philosophical implications of lucid dreaming will really love this movie. For me, this is the movie about lucid dreaming that I've been waiting for since I became interested in the subject. Richard Linklater has given a great gift to the lucid dreaming community.

After seeing Waking Life last week, I also agree that it is a great gift to the lucid dreaming community. I also wonder how many ordinary dreamers will have their first lucid dream after being exposed to this movie. Has anybody heard any stories of this yet?

I just walked home from seeing two amazing movies from the parabola film festival. Fierce Grace, a biography on Ramm Dass and Meetings w/ Remarkable Men. The second film was about Gurdjieff's life and awakening of consciousness. Near the end of the movie they had some beautiful scenes of sacred dervish dances. I had never seen any recreation of such dances before.

In lucid dreaming, I've used Laberge's suggestion of spinning to help stabilize my dream conciousness. After the film, I've become more interested in learning the history of these sacred dances. Can anyone recommend one of gurdjieff's books that covers this in more detail or anything else on whirling dervish history?

"Richard Linklater has given a great gift to the lucid dreaming community. " - adastra

Fully agree. Rereading my note I see that it came across as less enthusiastic than I was upon exiting the movie. I was a little disheartened by the two people I stood behind on the escalator out of the theater who were complaining bitterly about it and how they like movies with some semblance of a plot.

I was tempted to tell them it not only had a plot it even had a happy ending, what else can you ask for? But the thought of trying to explain why that was a happy ending was a daunting one .

Hello everyone. Forget your Christmas shopping. Go to see Vanilla Sky.

It takes some time to get to the real point, but it is well worth the wait for serious lucid dreamers.

In particular:

You will see the striking "reality" of dream characters. And, perhaps more importantly, a great "reality test" when confronting one with a simple question.

There is also acute insight into the Importance of Day Residue, and even (in retrospect analysis), an obvious understanding of False Remembrance in Dreams. I was so impressed, I sat through all of the credits expecting to see the name of Stephen LaBerge as consultant. Alas, no names I recognized. There are more of us!

BEFORE or AFTER you see the movie, go to the "Research and Theory" topic heading in the Lucidity Institute Forum. Read the threads "The Importance of Day Residue" and "False Remembrance in Dreams."

And, Lester, if still in touch with this forum, the source of our friendship, please email me at sstberlin@att.net

Keelin - with my love always - and Happy Holidays to all. /StephenBerlin

Hi, Stephen and other dreamkittens

Good to see you back on the forum! Your posts have always been among my favorites.

I saw Vanilla Sky the night it came out, but had a somewhat different reaction to it than you did. Although I tried to keep an open mind, I went expecting this to be the usual inferior Hollywood version of a great foreign movie (in this case the foreign movie was the execellant Spanish movie Open Your Eyes). In this expectation I was not disappointed; I found the movie to be more superficial, less convincing, and with dialog and plot elements that would be better left out or dealt with more subtly. I enjoyed the soundtrack but found many of the choices oddly matched with the scenes unfolding and consequently rather jarring (not necessarily a bad thing considering the theme of this movie).

The worst part for me was, although they explicitly talked about lucid dreaming at one point, they appeared to define it implicitly as "a state of consciousness in which you are not aware that you're dreaming, and experience a reality generated from your prior intention and current conscious and subconscious wishes."

However, I have to say that as the movie sat in my mind for a while, I appreciated it more. It had some entertaining special effects, some funny dialog, and did illustrate various aspects of the dreamscape rather well - I agree with all the points you made about it. It is thought-provoking and further exposes people to the lucid dream meme.

I would recommend this movie (although not nearly as much as I'd recommend Open Your Eyes), and I plan to see both movies again in the near future.

flutterby kisses and lucid dream fishes, adastra

Adastra! Thanks for your response pertaining to the movie Vanilla Sky. I always pay particular attention to your postings - one of the faithful remaining remnants from our first generation Forum.

I agree with you that lucid dreaming seemed to be implicitly defined incorrectly in the movie - although I really think it warrants a second seeing - particularly the ending. Regardless, I think that the movie did lucid dreaming much more good than harm. Just seeing the words "Lucid Dreaming" filling the theater screen of a major Hollywood box-office hit stunned me. After the unbelievably horrible reality check required on September 11th, I was very grateful for this particular one.

Also, as we have previously and partially discussed in the thread Degrees of Lucidity - Lucid or Not?, calling any dream "completely conscious" or "completely unconscious," is probably inaccurate. Even in our "full-blown" lucid dreams when we are seemingly fully aware that we are dreaming, we do not have ultimate control over every aspect of our environment and the characters that appear. Something even deeper in us serves it up - and (it is my continued contention) that all the images in dream are extracted, enhanced, blended and morphed from the total accumulated experience of our individual lives (day residue from a lifetime of days). The movie did an admirable job of portraying this important and neglected aspect of dreaming. For those who enjoy metaphysical speculation - and speculation is the operative word here - perhaps at death our total individual experience is "uploaded" to the "collective" experience of humanity. Thus our painful "journey in the flesh" may ultimately reap its reward - to lucidly dream minus the constraints of our physical bodies - leaving us with an infinity to explore and an eternity to do it.

Despite its references to Lucid Dreaming - Vanilla Sky did obviously and primarily portray the characteristics of "ordinary dreaming." I personally felt, though, that the meeting on the roof with "Tech Support" at the end of the movie, in the wake of a non-lucid nightmare, signaled the emergence of true lucidity - and a choice to keep dreaming or wake up. For good or ill, the movie has contradictions and leaves a lot of room for individual interpretation

Thanks, Adastra, for mentioning Open Your Eyes. I saw it mentioned in the credits and forgot the title after I left the theater. I will be sure to check it out. /Stephen Berlin

I just saw and agree with both, It was great to see Lucid Dreaming on screen. There was a lot to think of. Where can you see "Open Your Eyes?" On Video? It was a Spanish film I believe w/ English subtitles??

Just wanted to mention that the current issue of Creative Screenwriting has an excellent article/interview with Richard Linklater, who made Waking Life. He mentions, very casually, that he has had lucid dreams all his life. Well gee. It's a particularly good issue, with interviews with the Farelly brothers, the guys who made Windtalkers, and more.

Doug

Hi, Ted, anywhere that stocks an assortment of foreign movies would be a good bet. I hope there is such a place or places in your area...

Stephen,

I totally agree it was a thrill to see the phrase LUCID DREAM covering the whole screen - might turn a few people on to the real deal.

And yes, it's ambiguity lends to interesting lines of speculation and interpretation. I'll probably see it again at some point.

Last week I saw RUN, LOLA, RUN, and while it does not deal with dreams, there is a certain resonance that I think would make it interesting to some of you. The movie is a hyperkinetic German thriller that is clearly coming out of rave culture. At the beginning of the movie Lola is talking with her boyfriend Mani on the phone; he is freaking out because he just lost $100,000 marks from a drug deal, and if he doesn't have the money when he meets his other contact in 20 minutes he will be killed. She reassures him that she will somehow get the money, and the movie then goes through three possible universes that split off from that moment. After the first two segments Lola ends up in an interlude in which she's in bed talking with Mani, and chooses to go back to the moment she gets off the phone with him and do things differently. RUN, LOLA, RUN has a great techno sound track, is visually pleasing, and is an excellant illustration of the parallel worlds concept.

Non-dream related:

At Dream Camp last week we were discussing the Lord of the Rings movie over dinner one night and I promised I'd post some parody links (in fact I thought I already had, perhaps I dreamed it?):

http://diaries.diagon.org/

This is book related rather than movie related, but be sure to check out #23. The great Balrog Slipper debate:

http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/theories.htm

"Waking Life" is available on DVD -- I got a copy from amazon.com but I'm sure it's in other retail channels as well.

...Don

Last night I saw the comedy movie MONKEYBONE, and I would give it a mild recommendation - it has really surreal imagery and a couple of dream sequences that I found enjoyable. With the exception of a few scenes, however, I didn't find it very funny or interesting; it definately didn't live up to its potential. Still, if you're crazy about dream-related movies (as I am) then MONKEYBONE is worth renting sometime.

Has anyone seen the Cell? It's about a girl named Catherine Deane, played by Jennifer Lopez, who can enter the mind of other people. She is contacted by the FBI and asked to help them find out where a serial killer has hidden the girl he has kidnapped. The murder has already been caught, the thing is he's in a coma and can't tell where the girl is, therefore Catherine is the only one who can help them. I didn't find the movie to be especially good, but from a lucid dreamer's point of view it might still be worth seeing it. The parts where she visits his subconscious and experience the sickness of his dreams was quite interesting. I recommend it, not as a good movie, but as a interesting one...

Hi, Linus

Thanks for the tip and nice to hear from you.

Have you seen "Being John Malkowitch"? I recommend it for all dreamers, but it is not that cosy...

Nice to see you here!

Dream on those fantastic dreams

Yours Ralf

Last weekend I went to see the new version of SOLARIS. It had some neat dream sequences, and the whole movie was very dreamlike/trippy with a flowing, recursive narrative structure. The movie raises interesting and disturbing questions about the nature of identity and human relationships. I would recommend this movie to all oneironauts.

I recommend renting "Lathe of Heaven". This visionary tale is about dreams altering reality and living in the now. According to the New York Times, the film is "a rare and powerful synthesis of poetry and science, reason and emotion."

Adastra!

Which new version of Solaris!? Recently I've seen a trailer which I had downloaded... It sais "with George Clooney".... Is it this verion? Coming up on cinema these days? (Probably not in Germany..)

A puzzled Natalie =)

Hi Natalie

Yes, the one with George Clooney, it's a new Hollywoodish version (but well done). I hope you can find it.

Thx! I'm curious

I finally saw "Waking Life" a few weeks ago. Although I wouldn't recommend it to my friends as they would find it a little too "weird," I enjoyed it. It's great to see how dreams influence art. This is my dream inspired image. It is more negative than what I wanted for a strictly lucid dream atmosphere, but I think the creepiness is a better fit for the exhibit to which I submitted it.

http://www3.photosig.com/viewphoto.php?id=750708

Thanks, John

Thats an interesting image John. I didnt find it that spooky, for me computer generated art always looks to hygienic/cartoon like to ever be scary.

I liked the 'ghost' in the corner, made me wonder which of the images was creating which image, i.e. boy standing day dreaming? boy sleeping dreaming he's looking out the window? And is either perspective aware of itself?

'Waking Life' was fascinating to me. Each segment of the film was like a meditation -- I stop my VCR and mentally digest each scene independently.

Aside from my collection of Marx Brothers films, it's the only movie I've bought.

Greetings, Dreamers:

I saw a beautiful short at a local Jung group a few weeks ago I thought I would mention....

Video: "Appointment with the Wise Old Dog: Dream Images in a Time of Crisis" (30 min.) Cellist Yo-Yo-Ma introduces this beautiful video, which highlights the art work created by orchestra conductor David Blum during the last months of his life. While battling cancer, Blum made a long series of vivid paintings of his dreams. In this candid and inspiring interview, he shares his reflections and insights with the viewer and discusses the role played by dreams in his process of coming to terms with his impending death.<<<

There were striking themes of Transendence, Art Therapy, and Acceptance... He hints at lucidity, performing reality checks, and exploring active inagination while reliving these experiences during the creation of his paintings...

This one will stay with you...

zzzZZZ( Yo-Ma-Ma wears army boots) z z Joe

How about David Lynch's Mulholland Drive? A beautiful film and a haunting film that utilizes day residue as the basis for the first part of the movie. The concept of what is real and what is dream is also explored very effectively. This one will leave you guessing...

I saw this movie on DVD back in April 2002. It eventually led to the exploration of my own dreams and further into the world of lucid dreaming.

"It is all a recording"

"Portrait of Jenny", Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones, 1948. Directed by William Dieterle. Produced by David O. Selznick.

One of the most stunning, achingly beautiful black and white works of cinematography of all time. That alone is reason enough to see it, but I'm mentioning it here because in its unique way it can be experienced as a cinematic exploration of dreaming and reality. The beauty, power, and paradoxically haunting clarity of its images contribute to an experience that is still with me.

This is a romantic film on several levels. Modern viewers should be prepared for a heightened sentimentality not common to today's cinema, but I personally did not experience this as negative.

Jones has a tough role in this film, but I can't imagine anyone doing a better job, and Joseph Cotten is superb.

Watch for a luminous appearance by Lillian Gish late in the film.

Unfortunately if I said much more, I think it would spoil the experience as it relates to dreams and reality.

Reverie PS- great thread! My personalized license plate is "Cinema", so enough said. Love those movies!

Hey Rich

I loved Mulholland Drive as well. My impression of it was that it takes place in the afterdeath bardo - it is certainly dreamy and loaded with death symbolism. Stuart Davis has a cool l'il review of it: Quote:

This is a profoundly significant movie. The entire film is one moment as it occurs in the Bardo, and what we view is the history and karma of one soul burned away by radiating agents as it is 'dunked' in between lives. The purification is conducted through the identity (seemingly) being fractured / parsed into different characters which are then experienced as "others", and through their dramatic inter-action the necessary spiritual cleansing is achieved. However, as the figures are aspects of one self, compound parts of a whole, the film is not only an expert portrayal of the enigmatic process of transfiguration, but a brilliant metaphor for what the Absolute experiences in the moment-to-moment unfolding of all phenomena, AKA: the Universe. The irony is, since film is a medium which requires sequence, the director must stretch out what is actually an instant (or an atemporal 'event') to make the work accommodate human faculties. The result- Mulholland Drive- is an almost unparalleled achievement in cinema, and required viewing for any dedicated practioner. Beyond being one of the great mandalas of the 20th century, Mulholland is a sobering reminder that without serious, lifelong meditation practice our soul will just pass out at death, forfeiting our usefulness to all beings / caving on our vow to Love.

a.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one movie I would strongly recommend for oneironauts. The main character is having his memories erased and in the process is reliving them in the reverse order in which they were originally stored. Near the very beginning he becomes lucid, and upon realizing his true situation he starts trying to fight the erasure process. The whole movie is very surreal and dreamlike. My favorite part of the movie Being John Malkovitch - the screenplay of which was also written by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman - was the fight scene in Malkovitch's unconscious mind; well, this entire movie is like that! Best of all, according to this article the science of the movie is actually quite accurate.

a.

Hello! I would recomend here THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. It's about the chaos theory, memory lagoons and how changing the past can affect the future. The interesting part, and why I am mentioning it here, is how to become lucid in your memories and try to find that very insignificant thing that altered your life to create a moment in life you would never forget. This movie had me thinking a lot, and it made me remember things that I could have forgotten forever. The actor has a diary, and when he reads it he gets into the past and changes it. He is able to remember things he may have forgotten forever if he hasn't written them.... just like a dream diary: I am sure that I would never remember certain dreams if I didn't write them in my diary. It would be interesting to write a diary of life, just like a dream diary, interpreting life as a dream, with symbols and everything... this may help us understand why certain things happen.

But even if a million things could happen, only one happens, our life... only one way... this is destiny I guess.... But I believe we can become lucid in our lifes also and understand every symbol and take the appropiate turns.

On the subject of Vanilla Sky,

Has anyone tried using the concept of "Tech Support" in difficult lucid dreams?

For those of you who would appreciate an explanation for Mulholland drive, here's a breakdown....

DONT READ THIS IF YOU HAVNT SEEN THE FILM AS IT WILL SPOIL IT!!!

First of all- BACKGROUND INFORMATION Betty, one of the blonde actresses is not Betty- Her real name is Diane Sellwyn. She lives in Canada, won a dance contest and is now in California trying to become an actress. Her aunt died and left her $50,000. She meets Camilla Rhodes, a well known actress on the set of the SYLVIA NORTH STORY directed by Adam Kescher (sp?) Here, the two girls start having a steamy affair, except Diane's love for Camilla is not reciprocal. Camilla tries to break up with her, but it does not work. At the same time, she is playing a malicious mind game with Diane-inviting her to parties, etc., just for her to witness Camilla and Adam's new found love relationship.

One night at a party, Diane breaks down when she realizes Adam and Diane are to be married. Diane freaks out, and hires a hit man to kill Camilla. He says to her that once the deed is done, a blue key will await her in her house.

Other characters we meet during this party/time is COCO, Adam's mom, a weird cowboy, and a mobster-looking man sitting at a table. We also overhear important comments: Such as Adam finding his wife and pool boy together. We also hear Coco say, "Call me Coco Everyone else does" These quotes will prove to be important later. We also learn that Diane has this other fallback girlfriend with whom she has recently broken up. Her other girlfriend has all of her belongings at Diane's house, and wants them back.

So Diane, miserable, hires the hit man, and goes to bed that night. Before she does, she reminisces (sp?) about her jitterbug contest, and then goes to sleep. This is the very beginning of the movie, during the credits, where we see the montage of jitterbug dancers and then we see her head going down towards red satin sheets and the screen fades to black as she falls asleep.

The following - the body of the movie- is her dream The dream begins with "Camilla" in the back seat of a limo, she is almost shot by hired hit men, but a freak accident allows her to escape-but also erases her memory. This NEVER HAPPENED. This is just in Diane's dream. Her guilt and regret was manifested here, she dreamt/hoped Camilla would get away.

In Diane's dream, Diane is personified as Betty- a perfect, innocent, wonderful actress. Something she never was nor will be. This is sad, to me- that her dream is just made up of hope and wishes... BUT ANYWAY

So, we meet Betty, who is really a perfect clone of Diane, and throughout the movie "Betty" is helping this amnesiac "Camilla" (who refers to herself as Rita). This is also Dianes way of wishing/dreaming she and Camilla were together--the two women do eventually become together.

We also have the character of Adam K who is directing his movie. However, he needs to replace his lead actress in his movie? Why, is Diane dreaming this? Well probably because Camilla in real life is the lead actress, and she knows Camilla will be dead, and Adam will have to re cast the part.

Diane hates Adam and therefore gives him a terrible day in her dream. His wife is found with a pool boy- this is important because he mentioned this that night at the party and she incorporated it into her dream.

Also he is forced to cast a certain "Camilla Rhodes" for his lead actress. This is important because this is Diane rationalizing in her dream why Camilla got all the good parts in movies, and she got nothing.

She dreamt there were major Hollywood conspiracies, and that even though Betty or Diane was an AMAZING actress, Camilla Rhodes would get the part. This was evident when Betty/Diane tried out for a part and did an amazing job. Although the real Diane probably could not have accomplished this feat, in her dream she saw herself doing this, but all for nothing because Camilla Rhodes had been chosen by the mob/weird group of people forcing Adam to choose her. WINKIES is also important- This, to me, is just a manifestation of lust, evil, greed, malice... All these feelings motivate evil in our world, therefore it does it all. It would seem that if someone saw all of this pure evil, they would die- like the man did. WINKIES is also important because this is where the real Diane was talking to the hit man. She noticed a waitress, Betty- a cute, bubbly girl- and subsequently took her personality in her dream and switched the two names.

ALSO- important. All the mob people made Adam say "THIS IS THE GIRL" they repeated this over and over. Note when real Diane gives the pic of Camilla R to the hit man, she says "THIS IS THE GIRL" She also has $50,000 in her purse. In her dream, everyone is using her words "THIS IS THE GIRL" about Camilla becoming the actress. Rita also has the $50,000 in her purse. Again this is reversing/incorporating everything in her dream... It proves it's a dream. This is the girl" is important because it's using Diane's own words to provoke guilt, etc. in her dream.

When RITA and BETTY find the dead body in the bed of Diane's apt, this, to me- is just the realization in DIANE's mind that she is in fact dead without Camilla. Like I mentioned before, the sequence of the dead body, and most of the movie, is a dream, and Diane went to bed quite guilty and remorseful and probably contemplated suicide....this is the result.

ALSO- the hit man portrayed in the dream is INCOMPETENT! He cannot carry out a task, which is Diane's subconscious hoping dreaming that he will mess up his job with Camilla.

SO in the dream, the two women become very very close, something Diane always wanted, and in a way was getting... they have a wonderful relationship where Betty/Diane is helping Rita/Camilla, and Camilla/RITA respects and loves Diane/Betty as well.

UNTIL....CLUB SILENCIO!!! This is my all time favorite scene. No hay banda--- everything is an illusion-- this is SUCH a symbolic scene- here we realize everything so far is an illusion- that nothing is what it seems. Ever have a dream when you know you're dreaming? Well that's what Betty/Diane did, she started to realize this beautiful thing with herself and Camilla/Rita was about to end, and therefore she started convulsing.

Rebekah Del Rio serenaded us beautifully about Diane's feelings for Camilla, and the two women begin to cry - they know what's about to happen subconsciously... they know it's about to end.... That would explain that. And the fact that REBEKAH dies while singing, this shows again that its over.

Diane awakens from her dream... So then Betty disappears, Rita opens the box... and we have Diane waking up from her dream. The weird cowboy says, wake up. She had seen the Cowboy at the party and incorporated him into her dream.

Diane is now Diane....no more Betty. The colors are less vivid, sound track is dull, dream's over. The rest of the movie is a series of flashbacks/present, but is all reality.

Diane's GF comes to get the ashtray, the blue key is there.. but wallah the key is gone! A flashback to Camilla and Diane-- Camilla trying to break up with Diane... then the set of the movie- Adam and Camilla- all I explained before.

Then we have the night of the party, where Diane gets her ideas for her dream. The limo, the cowboy, the pool story, "call me Coco", the jitterbug contest, Adam and Camilla, the espresso ... Such a sad movie

So in the end, the first two shots of the movie are set in present time, everything else is a dream, go back and watch it- It all makes sense. Then Diane wakes up and you find out why she dreamt what she dreamt...

Donnie Darko is an extremely dreamlike movie which I highly recommend to oneironauts. In the first scene we see Donnie asleep on a highway with a spectacular view of mountains. Shortly after that a large demonic rabbit appears to him while he's sleeping and leads him outside where he is told "The world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 11 seconds." He subsequently falls asleep on a golf course and when he gets back to his house, he finds that a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom and would have killed him had he been there. The rabbit gives him cryptic messages and orders him to commit acts of vandalism. Is Donnie going insane, or is the rabbit an emissary from the future, or...?

The movie is brilliant and thought-provoking, with a great soundtrack and good acting and an eerie, surreal quality throughout. There are very few movies I actually buy, but this will definately be one of them. I've also posted a blog entry about it: http://infinitespiral.blogspot.com/2004/12/donnie-darko.html.

a.

Hi all

Not really a film, but there is a really cool piece of flash animation on the web that is very dreamlike. Check it out, you may be glad you did.

http://www.mikeisgod.com/movies/flashbackplay.asp

a.

Here's another very cool, dreamlike, flash animation piece I just discovered:

http://www.eviltree.de/zoomquilt/zoom.htm

It is a huge, intricate group graphic art project. You click and drag your mouse up to move forward, down to move back. It's on a loop so you eventually get back where you started; after a few passes you'll probably want to stop frequently to examine details...and perhaps to state test.

a.

Thanks, Adastra, for this film. I am convinced that it was only because of seeing it that I had a LD last night after a long time of drought. It was not long and nothing much happened, but I flew around and felt on top of the world. Jan