beauty sleep

I think I'm glad I'm not in film school right now because I dread the thought of how many pretentious, boring student films Science of Sleep must have inspired. Which not to say that it is pretentious or boring, quite the contrary. It is pretentious and captivating.

It's just that it's got to be the most "indy" (in a good way) film I've ever seen, and that can be as bad as good in the effect that it has.



The movie, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind from the same director, could be, maybe should be, confusing. But Michel Gondry is the kind of director who gives "visionary" a good name.

He can give us scrumptious images that are hard to resist. Here. Assuming you haven't seen the film, watch the trailer. It probably speaks for the charm of this movie better than most of my words ever could. And you won't hear me admit that often.



But Gondry can also (wait for it) tell a story. Based on this and ...Spotless they're not "normal" stories, but stories nevertheless. The subject here is dreams, and this movie envisions them more accurately than any film I can remember.

Most tv & movie dream sequences, frankly, are less about that and more about giving writers a chance to play "what if" while holding a get out of jail free card. But the dreams in ...Sleep are actually dreams the way I, at least, experience them. Sometimes.

PS: I also suspect I should be thanking this film, for "introducing" me to the French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg...