Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 23, 2022

Penny Fuller's name may not be widely recognized among the general movie going public, but for certain theater aficionados, she's well remembered for having portrayed Eve in the original Broadway mounting of the musical version of All About Eve , Applause. That show famously pitted Lauren Bacall, who portrayed Margo Channing, against Katharine Hepburn (playing Coco Chanel in Coco) in the subsequent Tony Award contest for Best Actress in a Musical (Bacall won), but the show also garnered Fuller a Tony nomination, though she ended up losing to the wonderful Melba Moore in Purlie. (Bonnie Franklin, who would soon become the beloved star of the original version of One Day at a Time, was also in Applause and also garnered a nomination in the Featured Actress category, along with Fuller, which may have split the vote among fans of the musical.) Years ago I was actually playing the Original Broadway Cast album of Applause at home and a song called One Hallowe'en that Fuller sings came on and my two then very young sons erupted into howls of laughter when Fuller, portraying an obviously distraught Eve thinking back to a traumatic event in her childhood, blurts out in clipped speech which is ironically rather Bette Davis-like, "Well, damn you, Daddy — look at your little girl now!" And of course, questionable parenting skills aside, I had no choice but to edit a WAV file so that we could enjoy that little snippet whenever we wanted without the inconvenience of having to listen to the entire song. For those who understandably haven't delighted to Fuller's spoken moment of distress in that song and who may be otherwise unaware of her, she is on hand as one of the two arguable "marquee" stars in this patently odd film, the other being Reed Birney, whose nephew Albert is one of the guiding lights behind the effort.

Albert Birney is on hand in one of the many supplements included on this disc stating that the film actually began with a "vision" of sorts that Birney experienced, wherein he "saw" a guy with a suitcase walking toward a bright pink Victorian mansion, and he started fashioning his idea around that image. Along the way, he teamed up with the eponymous Kentucker Audley (whose real name is evidently Andrew Michael Nenninger) at a Maryland film festival, and the two started really going to work on what ultimately became Strawberry Mansion. The result is a decidedly surreal trip into a dystopian future (is there any other kind in film?) where those pesky governmental types have decided that additional tax revenue can be gleaned by product placement in people's dreams, and if that sounds a bit odd, to quote a certain famous maxim, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

The film's putative hero is a kind of hapless schlub named James Preble (Kentucker Audley), who has been tasked with "auditing" an immense cache of VHS tapes which contain the recorded dreams (and perhaps memories) of an elderly woman named Arabella Isadora (Penny Fuller). Now, Strawberry Mansion simply asserts certain "facts" as given, including not just the whole bizarre taxing dreams element (which is frankly never really clearly explained in any overt fashion), but also that in 2035, the supposed year things take place, dream recording has moved on to a more contemporary technology than VHS, which may beg the question about when VHS was au courant for recording dreams, though a "timestamp" on some dreams places them in the 1980s, which I guess fits "history", though that then begs the question as to how or even if Arabella recorded all of her subsequent dreams after the 1980s. This is admittedly not materially different than some of the "retro futuristic" aspects that can inform films like Brazil, and there are other kind of quasi-retro touches here, including a patently goofy "viewing helmet" that Preble finagles himself into in order to watch Arabella's recordings.

The upshot is that Preble, who against his own better instincts agrees to stay with Bella as he sorts through thousands of tapes, begins to have feelings for the young Bella (Grace Glowicki) he sees in her dreams. A number of patently surreal developments ensue, including the arrival of Arabella's son Peter (Reed Birney), who becomes the story's putative villain. The "plot" (such as it is) is almost secondary here to the unabashedly psychedelic array of images that Birney and Audley provide. This is one of those films where things may frankly not make a lot of sense as they're unfolding, and perhaps even less so once they're ruminated about after viewing, but where the audaciousness of the presentational aspects may override any quibbles about underlying foundational elements.

Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Strawberry Mansion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb doesn't have any real technical information listed, but both this article and this interview with Director of Photography Tyler Davis disclose the film was captured with Arri Amira cameras but then transferred to 16mm in post, which gives it a rather unique and to my eyes frankly kind of cool appearance. There's a kind of odd "combo platter" of generally excellent detail levels that can emerge even with the grittiness of a 16mm grain field, but probably the most noticeable thing about this presentation is its extremely variant palette. Large swaths of the film play out in some rather unusual hues, including almost Pepto-Bismol pink in a number of Preble's own dreams (which is kind of amusing, given that he's evidently experiencing some gastrointestinal issues at various points). A lot of Arabella's dreams are beautifully sunlit and feature appealing pops of greens and blues. The entire look of the film is obviously artificial, which adds to already pretty evident levels of surreality in scenes that feature characters like talking (and saxophone playing) frogs and/or nautical rats.

Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Strawberry Mansion offers DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The surround track noticeably opens up a wealth of ambient environmental sounds (both interior and outside) as well as providing a more spacious soundstage for Dan Deacon's enjoyable score. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and there are no issues of any kind to report. Optional English subtitles are available.

Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with directors Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Strawberry Beginnings: The Making of Strawberry Mansion (HD; 41:57) features good interviews with Birney and Audley in this well done piece that explores the production.


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (HD; 33:11)


• Test Footage and Animation (HD; 16:02)


• Dan Deacon Music Video (HD; 2:27) offers the film's theme with another gonzo array of imagery.


• Short Films by Albert Birney

  Cactus (SD; 17:36)

  
  

  The Fly (HD; 3:31)

  
  

  Buzzer (HD; 8:41)

• Watercolor and Collage Gallery (HD)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:37)


• Isolated Score is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Setup Menu.

Additionally, the keepcase houses what I'd call collectible "character cards" on heavy cardstock which offer photos and "biographies".

Strawberry Mansion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those interested, you can hear Fuller's, um, memorable line reading in the song linked to above beginning at around 1:17, but for those who want to actually see the actress as well as hear her, Strawberry Mansion provides Fuller with a kind of charming part, though she may get lost in a whirlwind of activity that comes off as decidedly drug fueled at times. There's a lot of fascinating content here, most noticeably of course visually, but some of the ideas in the film are rather provocative, even if they're arguably not developed as well as they might have been. When you have to slog through as many cookie cutter "entertainments" as I do as part of your workday, something as patently bizarre as Strawberry Mansion can be a much welcome palate cleanser, and I have no doubt some who watch this film and react with an emphatic "WTF?" may think my 4.0 score is overly generous. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.