Check out Chris’s video interview with Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, co-writer/directors of Strawberry Mansion

Strawberry Mansion first came to the public’s attention when it virtually premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT category, which focuses on films with bold, challenging content and form. It's taken a little while, but the film has just been released to theaters in 40 cities nationwide by indie film distributor Music Box Films, with a VOD release coming this Friday, February 25. But if you have the opportunity, this is one that’s best viewed on the big screen. Among its many attributes, Strawberry Mansion proves that you can produce impressive effects-driven sci-fi storytelling without necessarily needing a $150 million budget.

Co-directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney have respectively been making movies for over a decade, but came together for their first feature project with 2017’s Sylvio. I had an opportunity to interview Audley and Birney, who told me that Sylvio started an idealized trilogy for the duo with an emphasis on characters “coming home.” Strawberry Mansion is the second feature in this unofficial trilogy, a sci-fi fantasy set in a dystopian future where a draconian government now taxes people’s dreams, while a capitalist system has similarly advanced to in-dream marketing.



Not only are Audley and Birney co-directors, they also both wrote, edited, and starred in the film (though Birney never appears outside of masked costumes). When I spoke with the duo, they didn’t necessarily imply they made their movie to deliver a message, but rather they wanted to make the best damn sci-fi they could on the budget they had. The story follows Preble (Audley), a tax auditor who is sent to an aging eccentric, Bella (Penny Fuller), who hasn’t paid her dream taxes in years. Bella lives in a strawberry-red colored... wait, you guessed it... mansion in the countryside, and she invites Preble to stay at her place for as long as the audit lasts, as long as he tries her... strawberry ice-cream. Preble agrees to stay, but realizes Bella hasn’t transitioned her dream recording to the new memory stick, and still records all her dreams by VHS cassette tapes. This has become a collection of hundreds that Preble now must audit. However, during the process, Preble becomes smitten with an in-dream younger version of Bella (Grace Glowicki), while uncovering a capitalist plot that puts him and both Bellas in danger.



While we’re given some cool dystopian sci-fi elements, I’d say it’s hardly the primary reason to see the movie. I mean, come for the indie-Inception premise; stay for the wild stop-motion animation, the bizarre dream logic, the handmade cassette player headpiece that looks like a George Lucas droid, and a menagerie of some of the wackiest dream characters you’ll meet. Frog Waiter! Grass Man! Stringy Cassette Tape Guy! Rat Sailor 1! Rat Sailor 2! The Blue Demon!! (Birney plays at least a couple). These characters are brought to life by a variety of means - costumes with hand-made headpieces, stop-motion animation, puppetry, computer graphics... - and this combination adds to the film's disorientation. You can tell the filmmakers had immense fun creating these characters, and I had just as much fun watching them.



The film feels very indie throughout, whether it's Audley’s minimalist performance (his acting beginnings stem from the mumblecore scene of the aughts) or the script’s ambiguous story threads. But what it doesn’t feel is cheap, despite the surely very low budget. In our conversation, the directors told me how they drew inspiration from filmmakers like Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Miyazaki Hayao, as well as The NeverEnding Story, and that influence is clear. The movie is a gonzo polygamous marriage of Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Lynch’s Eraserhead, Miyazaki’s fantasy spirit, and Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles, creating a surreal experience where dream and reality collide, and the viewer is asked to follow down the rabbit-hole of the bizarre. Birney even called Eraserhead his favorite movie, fondly remembering his midnight theater viewings, and proudly showing off his artwork of an anthropomorphic, beer drinking gazelle watching the Lynch feature debut on his TV.

The directors and DP Tyler Davis focused on giving the movie an '80s B-movie aesthetic, shooting on digital before transferring the footage 16mm. This gives a grainy, almost dirty feel to the visuals. Composer Dan Deacon, who’s come to recent fame for scoring the 2021 documentaries All Light, Everywhere and the Oscar-nominated Ascension, provides a great Carpenter-esque 80s synth score that fits the tone perfectly. Meanwhile, Audley and Birney as editors move the piece along at a solid clip, aware not to overstay their welcome past 90 minutes.

There’s clear critical commentary on the dangerous potential overreach from both government and capitalism, but it’s not necessarily a groundbreaking message. However, while the fantasy maybe doesn’t have the same “wow” experience that the filmmakers' cinematic inspirations had, it still provides a charmingly bizarre and overall fun time.



Right now, the film can still be seen at select theaters for midnight screenings, and I think that’s a perfect place for it: a late, lively crowd, plus a few substances, and this makes for a “fantastic” night out. I know most of y’all (myself included) will see the upcoming mega-budget superhero movies that start releasing in March. But do yourself a favor, and squeeze this one in beforehand; it’s worth it. I recommend folks see Strawberry Mansion to support independent films, to support independent film distributors… and because it’s really good.

Chris Trengove has a BFA in acting, an MA from the University of Denver in international relations, and during the day, he works for the economic development agency of Northern Ireland. While he's lived in Denver, Washington D.C., and Beijing, he calls Chicago home and has for most of his life. He lives with his wife (Laura) and two young boys (Aiden and Callum), and within a 20-minute walk of the Music Box Theater. Follow Chris on Letterboxd and Twitter.