Dreams That Money Can Buy

Star Review

Produced, written and directed by Hans Richter, and with dream sequences contributed by Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Fernand Leger and Alexander Calder, this is a real curiosity. Although put together for very little over three years in a Manhattan loft, Dreams… went on to win a special award at the Venice Film Festival for the best original contribution to the progress of cinematography.
The set-up is that Joe is a dreamseller with a roomful of people waiting to have their dreams unlocked. A closet art-lover gets a sequence from Ernst based on his Une Semaine de Bonté, an uptight woman gets Leger's dream of a girl with a pre-fabricated heart, and a gangster who wants a tip for the Derby gets Duchamp's Rotoreliefs and his Nude Descending a Staircase to the music of John Cage, which prompts him to dump Joe in a cupboard.
The 'surrealism' may now look a little quaint, but seeing the artists and their art - Calder's 'Circus', a sinister Big-Brother-before-he-existed close-up of Man Ray's eyes on the wall, among them - is a rare treat.

Graeme Hobbs on 15th July 2006

View all 228 of Graeme Hobbs’s reviews

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Film Description

An extraordinary film, a sort of history of art film noir, for want of a better description. A man sells dreams to those who need them. And amongst his customers are some of the greatest names in the Dadaist/ Surrealist movements, all of whom make a very personal contribution. Man Ray, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp,and Fernand Leger.

[ Show Star Review ]

Still with surrealism, another legendary example of the medium makes a belated (but equally welcome) appearance. Richter, the Berlin-born filmmaker (and Dadaist) broug... more >

Still with surrealism, another legendary example of the medium makes a belated (but equally welcome) appearance. Richter, the Berlin-born filmmaker (and Dadaist) brought together some of the century's most important surrealist artists and created this delirious and dreamlike film. A new soundtrack and copious extras make the package even more attractive. < less

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DVD Extras

• Bonus Alternative Soundtrack
• Interview With The Band
• 3 Short Films By Hans Richter
• Booklet.

Film Details

Cast

Dorothy Griffith, Jack Bittner

Technical Details