Movie Review: 'Strawberry Mansion'

Strawberry Mansion is an almost impenetrable film. The comic drama from the directing duo of Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney follows Audley as James Preble, a man whose job is to audit people’s dreams. In this bizarre reality people pay taxes for things they use in their dreams. Meanwhile, a corrupt corporation is sneaking advertisements into those same dreams without anyone being aware of it, save for Bella played by Penny Fuller.

The story of Strawberry Mansion picks up inside the dream of James Preble where a friend has brought him fried chicken and soda. We get the sense immediately that this is a rather typical event in James’s dreams, his friend, Buddy (Linas Phillips), brings food and soda and the two enjoy a meal together in James’ oddly purple kitchen, likely something he’s invented in order to save on his dream taxes.

James works as a dream auditor. It’s his job to watch people’s dreams and make sure they pay the correct amount of tax for the items used in their dreams. The plot kicks in when James receives a letter from a woman named Bella who invites him to her rural mansion to perform an audit. Bella, it appears, hasn’t paid taxes in years. Long ago she refused to upgrade to having her dreams digitized and audited immediately, preferring to have her dreams recorded on ancient VHS tapes.

When James comes for the audit and finds nearly 20,000 dream tapes, he settles in for what will be a lengthy stay as he watches all of Bella’s dreams. Bella meanwhile, has an ulterior motive in bringing James to her home. She discovered years ago that a corporation has been secretly paying to have their advertisements placed into people’s dreams. Bella has invented a helmet that blocks the ads and she’s hoping that James will help her expose these dream advertisements to the world.

I think that is the plot of Strawberry Mansion but I am not sure. The movie operates entirely on dream logic and it is difficult to determine what is intended to be the objective reality in which the story is taking place. Strawberry Mansion is unquestionably unique and wildly inventive but that comes at the expense of being so completely obtuse that it is hard to connect with the movie on an emotional level.

I wanted to buy in on the romance of Strawberry Mansion. In the course of his dream audit of Bella, Preble meets a younger Bella, played by Grace Glowicki and forms a romantic bond. This young Bella is a delightful character, a sweet, kind and loving soul who slowly reveals an even more unique and unexpected connection between her and Preble. I think that is what happens though, again, objective reality in Strawberry Mansion is impossible to determine.

Glowicki is a delight in a role that borders on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Thankfully, Glowicki is so winning that she never becomes a cliché, she’s not a trophy to be won, she’s not a victim, she’s an oddball who wins Preble’s heart because she’s just so charming and sweet. That said, it’s hard to say where this plot is supposed to be heading as young Bella only exists in dreams and Preble is, seemingly, the only objectively real character in the movie.

At a certain point, older Bella’s family, her son and grandchildren, show up at the mansion and they become de facto villains in the story, though why is up for questioning. The family may be connected to the corporate commercial conspiracy but I am not certain of that, the movie is so strange and unconventional that character motivation is implied at best. Regardless of motivation, Preble must overcome Bella’s family to continue to audit her dreams and perhaps find his only way to stay with young Bella, via this dreamy connection.

But, again, I am not sure of anything I am typing regarding what happens in Strawberry Mansion. I could tell you the ending of this movie and it would not be a spoiler because it would have to make sense in order to be a spoiler and I am not sure this makes sense or is intended to make any sense. The point of Strawberry Mansion is entirely up for debate and if you are on this film’s odd wavelength you might enjoy it despite the lack of conventional storytelling.

I, unfortunately, was distinctly not on the wavelength of this movie. I was not feeling the vibe. I can appreciate the weird for the sake of weird quality and the desire that the filmmakers have to make something wholly original, completely unlike any other movie, but beyond that mild appreciation, I could not enjoy this movie. I found Strawberry Mansion far too frustrating and obtuse for me to enjoy beyond my appreciation for Grace Glowicki's lovely performance and the artfulness of the production design. Strawberry Mansion looks like fun but it was decidedly not fun over the course of nearly 100 minutes.

Strawberry Mansion opens in limited release theaters and on demand rental on Friday, February 18th, 2022.