GertrudeStern I went on a long, hot walk around surprisingly dope Kansas City. Back at home base, I felt delirious, so I decided to return to Richter's Dreams That Money Can Buy.It had been a while, but I can now say that you do NOT need the help of sun-drenched lunacy for this one. Perfect just as it is.If there's any fabula, it's that bureaucracy sends people over the edge of mirrors, into bouquets of sterilized flowers resting in the dreams of others.Really, it's all about the digesis: "Let memory of mortgages, loans and property sales // dissolve into the cries of nightingales!". Obviously you're watching this in part for image, but the VO and script shouldn't be overlooked. Alternating between a crisp, white sound, in the manner of 1950's instructional films, and other more slippery and sensuous words, voices and jazz numbers, sometimes there's singsong-y rhyme, often there are jabs at structure in favor of chaos ("Sign, sign every dotted line! What's the difference? You'll never belong to anything anyway.").This is really a nice experience. Show it to hot friends and cool strangers.

MARIO GAUCI I had long been interested in watching this one (and had even toyed with the idea of acquiring its BFI PAL VHS in the mid-1990s) but, having now caught up with the film, I cannot say that the end result fully lived up to expectations!It is quite a unique effort, mind you, but very uneven in tone – a reflection of the many 'cooks' involved in the 'broth' since, despite the overall credit to Richter, many another avant-garde artist was responsible for the various dream sequences that basically comprise the narrative (Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, etc.). This is also why I preceded its viewing with a number of shorts by all these exponents of experimental cinema and, for what it is worth, I opted to check the film out on the day of Richter's own birthday!The concept is an intriguing, even noir-ish, one – accentuated by the initially down-on-his-luck protagonist and constant voice-over. The fantasies range from the romantic (a henpecked man braving a labyrinth for the sake of his idealized beloved recalls the work of Jean Cocteau) to the musical ('sung' by a mannequin and dreamt by a geeky girl liberated to femme fatale status by the hero's attentions), and from the prescient (the audience at an interactive movie theater imitate every move of the actors on-screen) to the insipid (a lazily derivative 'rotating shapes' display by Duchamp serving as the visions of a gangster type – who on earth but mathematicians dreams of such things anyway?!). The last hallucination, then, is reserved for the leading man himself – his assuming a blue countenance at this point presumably representing his own uniqueness (in view of the gift he is able to 'bestow' upon others). As I said, this is more worth watching for its intentions than for what is ultimately achieved; the colour scheme, at least, makes it that more palatable to the adventurous movie-buff. Incidentally, we also have here one of the very earliest examples of a pre-credits sequence on celluloid.

shellacficionado The British Film Institute have re-mastered the film from an original print and have released it on DVD with some Richter shorts, a very good booklet and an alternative soundtrack by the band The Real Tuesday Weld who have been performing live to it for the last three years.It looks amazing but remains one of the most underrated art films of the last century. It's difficult to know whether its imperfections (particularly in the editing and soundtrack) are a result of a low budget or carelessness or were intended / happily included by the director. Proclaimed by David Lynch as his favourite film (He pinched the title 'Ruth Roses and Revolvers from it), it is not an easy watch and sadly is probably destined to always be for the cognoscenti. This is a film - not a movie - and whilst not completely successful as a piece of art, it pushes the boundary of film and narrative.

NateManD Wow! For a film that was made in 1947, this was way ahead of it's time. 7 different surreal artists, including Duchamp; teamed up to create the dreams within the story. This is a rare film and if you can track down a copy, you won't be disappointed. The story is about a guy who starts a business selling people his dreams. People who need excitement come to him for a bizarre dream experience. Surreal images and at times crazy stream of conscious dialog follow. My favorite scene is later in the film, when the guy is walking up the ladder, and every time he takes a step, the step before disappears. Of course I wish the film would be remastered, since many of the scenes are faded. I'm glad to know that the British Film institute has it on video, I hope they digitally restore it and release it on DVD, or even better would be a Criterion release! 10/10