{"id":24907,"date":"2022-06-22T02:27:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T09:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24907"},"modified":"2022-06-22T02:27:48","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T09:27:48","slug":"blu-ray-review-strawberry-mansion-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24907","title":{"rendered":"Blu-ray Review: STRAWBERRY MANSION (2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This feature from Music Box Films is currently available\nto purchase on Blu-ray at most retailers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each week, this website notes dozens of independent films\nthat get a limited theatrical release (if they\u2019re lucky) and then appear on\ndisc. With so many entertainment options out there, many end up struggling to\nfind their audience and be discovered. Strawberry Mansion<\/em> comes from\nfilmmakers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley. It is a very small and unique\nscience-fiction movie that has a homemade feel that impressed festival\naudiences. In fact, it received several award nominations and even earned an\naudience prize for Best American Independent Film at the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es Film\nFestival<\/em> in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After receiving an advance Blu-ray of the film, this\nreviewer can affirm that the movie is something quite special. The story is\nclever and unique. The stylized and low-tech but striking visuals manage to\nimpress and impart a surreal feeling to the events. And the human drama manages\nto resonate on an emotional level. That\u2019s far more than many big budget\nscience-fiction features have accomplished. For those seeking something out of\nthe ordinary, this captivating (and occasionally creepy) movie comes highly\nrecommended. And so is the impressive Blu-ray, which is loaded with informative\nand entertaining extras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This futuristic story has a decidedly retro feel. It follows\nJames Preble (actor, co-writer, co-editor and co-director Kentucker Audley), a\ngovernment agent with a very unusual job. In between jaunts to his favorite\nfast-food franchise, he travels to various homes to conduct dream audits. It\nseems that the visions of those sleeping are now recorded and taxed, based upon\nwhat is featured in them. Preble arrives at the remote home of Arabella Isadora\n(Penny Fuller) to look through and enter a vast assortment of her dreams that\nhave been recorded onto VHS tapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preble finds the visions on display more imaginative than\nexpected. He sees a number of unusual animal-themed creatures and a mysterious\nhumanoid figure covered in grass, not to mention a young version of the dreamer\nknown as Bella (Grace Glowicki). The two develop a relationship and Preble\nbegins to fall deeper and deeper into this dream world. After learning that\nadvertisements are being forced into people\u2019s dreams, the lead\u2019s life is put\ninto danger in the real world. However, he is less-than-willing to leave the\nfantasy realm (including Bella) behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite having a limited budget, the visuals on display are\namazing. The titular red house makes a striking impression nestled in a large\ngreen field, as do other unusual environments (including an off-putting kitchen\nthat is pink). There\u2019s a lot of remarkable stop-motion, animation and make-up\neffects as well. Not every one of them is stellar, but most work in context\nwith the story. And a few of them are fantastically rendered. Some of the most\nimpressive are humanoids with animal heads, including a figure with an enormous\nfrog noggin, as well as a pair of phenomenal-looking sailor rats and a\nthreatening wolf-headed villain. These beings would be pure CGI-creations in\nother films, but here they are created using practical elements. This allows\nthem to really blend in with the surrounding characters and environment and\nstand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, none of this would matter without a good story\nand likable characters. The critique of consumerism is cleverly handled with some\nfun gags involving the lead\u2019s obsession with his preferred fried chicken\nestablishment. But even more important is the human element and unusual love\nstory between the two central characters. The put-upon Preble manages and young\nBella manage to ground these elements. It does take some time to come together,\nbut the film does slowly involve viewers in their plight and there\u2019s a\npoignancy to their fight to stay together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strawberry Mansion<\/em> is really remarkable. It maintains the unique vision of its creators from beginning to end and tells a unique story in a completely inventive, dynamic and surreal way. Frankly, it\u2019s difficult not to be impressed by what has been created by Birney and Alder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Blu-ray is also impressive for its vast assortment of\nextras. You\u2019ll get a lengthy interview and commentary track with the filmmakers\nthat details the movie\u2019s long road to the big screen (it took a decade or more\nto see it come to fruition). And the two share interesting observations about\ncreating the film. Interestingly, it seems that they shot it digitally, before\ntransferring it 16mm to get a unique and nostalgic visual palate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s fun to hear the two men detail trying to tie together\nthe various and sometimes difficult-to-explain ideas populating their story, as\nwell as selling their concept to outsiders. On set, it seems that Birney was\nlargely in charge of the look of the movie, while Alder focused on the\ncharacters and performances. They suggest that their approach was to be\ncollaborative with the cast and crew, hoping to make the most out of their\nlimited budget by encourage suggestions and incorporating whenever they thought\nmight improve their tale. With such a unique vision on display, it\u2019s intriguing\nto hear exactly what they had in mind and were trying to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The release also comes with short films made by Birney,\nincluding an amusing one involving a fly that also plays a part in the main\nfeature. Additionally, the disc contains deleted and extended scenes. There are\na couple of curious added details contained in these bits, but it does seem as\nif the pair made the right call in finding much of this material unnecessary\nand worthy of cutting. The disc also comes with test footage for some of the\nanimated sections and a music video featuring the main theme by composer Dan\nDeacon. There\u2019s also a gallery and trailer for the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see a lot of films, but was really taken by this little\npicture and all that was accomplished by those involved on a low-budget. This\nis a wonderful title and one that deserves to find, at the very least, an\nenthusiastic cult following. Music Box Films have clearly recognized just how\ninspired this movie is and have delivered an excellent Blu-ray with a great\npicture and enlightening bonuses. Strawberry Mansion<\/em> is a sweet, effective\nand memorable science-fiction film that is totally unlike anything else out\nthere. Be sure to check it out! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from Music Box Films is currently available to purchase on Blu-ray at most retailers. Each week, this website notes dozens of independent films that get a limited theatrical release (if they\u2019re lucky) and then appear on disc. With so many entertainment options out there, many end up struggling to find their audience and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[206,209,928,1960,3067,3073,6269,7314,8549,11598,14426,15905,17776,19192,19193,19194,19195,19196,19397,19613],"class_list":["post-24907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-206","tag-209","tag-albert-birney","tag-auditor","tag-blu-ray","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-dreams","tag-fantasy","tag-grace-glowicki","tag-kentucker-audley","tag-music-box-films","tag-penny-fuller","tag-science-fiction-2","tag-strawberry-mansion","tag-strawberry-mansion-blu-ray","tag-strawberry-mansion-blu-ray-review","tag-strawberry-mansion-film-review","tag-strawberry-mansion-review","tag-surreal","tag-tax-man"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}