aesthetics brim with surreal images and the playful imagination of a child- aren't most children constantly drifting in a sort of daydream in childhood, still retaining the ability to pass through a thin veil separating the waking and the hidden world of visions?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (asleep, running about through a subconscious labyrinth of memories)
The Science of Sleep (do we ever really wake up?)
slivers-
UGO: What fascinates you about the idea of confusing reality with fantasy?
Michel Gondry: I don't think I want to confuse reality with fantasy. Reality confuses me with fantasy.
UGO: Do you have nightmares?
MG: Yeah, sure. Terrible ones. I dream that I bought an apartment in some weird street in Paris. A small workshop. I wake up and I'm like, "Oh that's true! Where did I put the key of this workshop?" I had to go through my hiding places for 20 minutes. I talked to scientists and they told me that there is a part of your brain that is not working when you're sleeping. When you wake up, part of the brain is lazy to get up. You can be fully operational and then believe what you dream is real so some of the stuff can be really scary.
UGO: So, much of the stuff in Science of Sleep is from your dreams?
MG: Yeah, not necessarily the visuals. I can't say I dream in cardboard. But I wanted to create a style that made you feel your imagination. It is not exactly how dreams are. You don't go into a world made from your hands, they are made from memories all mixed together.
and being interviewed by his 15 year old son...
PG: I really thought it was about you because you can never sleep and you always have these problems with dreams. You always write them down and talk about them.
MG: Do you remember your dreams?
PG: Yeah, but not always. When it's too much of a strong dream, I don't remember it because too many things happen and I get lost. I can't build a story. It becomes like a bunch of pieces, like a puzzle.
MG: Have you had the same dream many times?
PG: Yeah. You remember when we lived in Hollywood and there was this house that was covered with all these pieces of fabric? My dream was of that house. There's a tower in that house, and I'm in it just having a perfect view of the city. It's weird. You can't really explain a dream. That's why you did a good job with this movie because it's something that's hard to put on the screen.
MG: Your dream of this place may have something to do with lots of events that have happened that may be emotional. I have millions of dreams of the house where I grew up in Versailles.
and
this morning i dreamed of walking across people's front yards in an old neighborhood with tall trees, including a twin redwood, as well as a towering stone wall in one part that i was wondering if i would have to climb. it felt like the Northwest. i enjoyed not walking on the sidewalk or even the street but i also felt maybe i wouldn't be so happy if people just wandered through my yard. then i was wandering about some sort of retreat center. there was an older couple buried to their neck in what looked like a giant cheese block except it was actually some concoction of enzymes and minerals meant to do wonders. they were the inventors and smiling but it looked rather uncomfortable to me- rather like being paralyzed in a bowl of stale porridge. behind them was a huge aquarium tank with most beautiful blue water and it was filled with people doing aquatic yoga- little bubbles drifting from closed mouths as men and women held various poses suspended a dozen feet below the surface. one very fit man caught my eye as he extended his arms and throwing his weight into the soft pressure of absent gravity, spun himself about in whirling circles...
later in my waking day i heard from a friend in portland who told me she has been doing a yoga teacher training recently, feeling increasingly stronger with the daily practice amidst her circus of activities...
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