Entertainment For Lively Minds
Dream Sequences
Posted by STD on 19 January 2012 - 6:37pm.
They are the cheapest of cheap tricks and the last refuge of the uninspired.
The protagonist of our chosen drama finds himself in a deeply perilous situation. We dig our fingers into the arm of our chair or partner. Then WTF! OMG! HFS! we watch as our hero is eviscerated, decapitated or cleaved in two. We are allowed a microsecond to grieve and then - cut - there is our hero sitting up in bed with a start. It was just a dream. Of course these scenes are such a cliché now that clever comedy writers mess with them but there have been some belters down the years. Here's a good one from the film that did most things better: American Werewolf In London:
Any others you remember fondly or not so fondly?
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We recently got the Twin Peaks box set.
Now I am well aware that that programme is basically all a bit "badger" but I really am enjoying it a lot. The dream sequence here is great. You can tell because it's had the piss taken out of it so much.
Pretty much the whole of "Dead of Night"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_night
The Michael Redgrave / ventriloquist section is utterly superb.
I watched that recently
for the first time. Odd how something so old can still be so creepy.
But I, like most right-minded people, find old-fashioned ventriloquist dummies highly disturbing. Was that the first film to use this device?
Two from Hitchcock
Vertigo:
And - cue the Banshees - Spellbound:
The Big Blue - Luc Beson
One of my favourite films. Not the best scene but a dream scene nonetheless -
The Sopranos
The Sopranos took the idea of dream sequences to another level and it faetured in many episodes. This is a montage of the sequences from the series 2 finale.
They have also inspired academics to pontificate on the meaning of it all...
http://davidlavery.net/Sopranos/Web_Only/Weber.pdf
A Matter of Life and Death
If David Niven's character IS dreaming, then the scenes when he goes to heaven are surely some of the best dream sequences. Heaven is in monochrome, real life in technicolor. A character dies, and appears in the afterlife to help Niven in his court case, and the judge is the doctor who saves Peter D. Carter's life.
Brilliant.
Sitting up in bed with a start
and "It was all a dream"...
This happens an awful lot in films and TV but does it actually ever happen in real life? Ever?
Yes I do it
If I'm having a bad dream, I can usually decide I don't like it and wake up, and it seems very sudden. Then there's 'myoclonal twitch' - that sudden jerk which happens as you fall asleep - which is often associated with a dream fragment.
Its the sitting bolt upright though -
that's what I don't buy. I also often wake up suddenly in the middle of dreams but I don't actually jump up and gasp, as they always do on screen.
Straightening out your leg
and waking up screaming. I've done that.
Never seen it in a film though.
The Lost Weekend
Here's Ray Milland having a bit of an episode. Because it's all in his mind, it doesn't matter that it's a seriously unconvincing bat...
... mmm, gives a guy a thirst!
All dressed up in big sister's clothes
Buffy uses dream sequences in a wonderful way to advance the plot (sometimes several series in advance) and reveal aspects of character - from Willow's fear of speaking French to the Buffy/Faith climax at the end of Season 3 (Counting down from 7-3-0)
The final episode of season 4 is almost entirely a succession of dream sequences, parodying among other things Twin Peak, Apocalypse Now and The Graduate, while explaining exactly how Buffy acquires a sister in Season 5
The Big Lebowski
Two great dream sequences from the Big Lebowski - one featuring Bob Dylan's 'The Man in Me' and the other featuring Kenny Rodgers 'Just Dropped In'. Two classic scenes from a classic comedy
Captain Scarlet
The one where Cloudbase gets destroyed and the Mysterons win. A traumatic experience for the young me. Mrs Cakes insists that, after 40-odd years, it's high time I started sleeping with the light off.
Pink Elephants on Parade
A personal favourite. I could hardly wait to start drinking after seeing this. Boy was I disappointed.
Luis Bunuel
Bunuel's great film of the late 70's - 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'.. Brilliant.. where you never quite sure what is dream & what isn't.. even dreams within dreams if I remember right, & very funny.
More David Lynch
Mulholland Drive is (kind of a spoiler, but not really) one big dream sequence.
Although maybe it isn't.
(Lynch isn't telling us)
But it certainly captures the feeling of an anxiety dream really well. A strange, slow story that gradually unravels into something sinister lurking just beyond your understanding.
Six Feet Under
where the masters and this one was a particular favourite