but it's a dream-- we don't have to work in dreams

it needs to be said again... i. love. fall. the leaves, the light, the lazy mornings, the smell of wood smoke and damp earth. it's the season of fingerless gloves, long jackets, big books and deep cups of coffee.
does it get much better than this?

i saw la science des reves-- the science of dreams (or as hollywood translated it, the science of sleep). as predicted, it did mess with my dreams last night. but since it was also one of the best nights of sleep i've had in weeks, i'm going to stall for a while to muse about it before hitting the trails for a jog.

i can't quite put my finger on this one. i love michel gondry and want to have ten thousand of his babies, but like charlie kaufman, i think his creative brilliance can get garbled and fail to communicate in the artistic frenzy. my friend becca got a very posh job acting as a go-between for a company full of geologists-- they would give her their scientific findings, and she would translate them into english that the rest of society could understand. i think this is the kind of middle man that gondry needs... someone to help him channel his dreams and quirks into a cinematic arch that is supported with substance. (nevermind that one of my all-time favorite movies is eternal sunshine, which kaufman and gondry wrote together. my guess is that they had to work through their creative babble to make something clear and parallel with the other's vision)

the science of sleep had some interesting but feverish elements-- the language switched from english to french to spanish and a multitude of subtitles in ever scene, and the characters were given less development than the trix rabbit gets on the back of the cereal box. both leads had subtle, wonderful faces for indie film, and seemed to completely trust gondry's directing. they could also deliver subtle comedy, which is possibly the hardest thing in the world to do successfully on film.
for someone with an acute case of insomnia, this film did reach me very deeply as a tortured blend of dream and reality, and the struggle to communicate or problem-solve real life issues when your mind feels like it's swimming in the abstract. gondry created a myriad of wonderfully creative scenes and images with this film, he delivered enough laughs to embarrass me multiple times as i giggled long past the punchline, and he wrote lines that could not have been closer to things i've said and thought recently. but he kept me in a permanent dream state for the entire film-- i wanted to wake up long enough to see the characters develop more deeply, and sink my mind into the arch of the plot. for what it was worth, the film wandered without destination, and offered some beautifully strange scenery along the way.

random side note: ben brought it to my attention that dan simmons not only has the world's most vintage imdb site (back from the monsters episode where matt leblanc first appeared on the tube), but his trivia includes "has a daughter, Jane". much, much giggling ensued, followed by the song "raaan-dooom!"

i'm starting to feel sleepy-face again, but there are new york details to hammer out (www.evildeadthemusical.com -- can we say "splatter zone"?!), a cello to practice and a long beautiful day ahead to meet. yesterday i went to the mountains, and part of me wants to head right back up-- i can't remember ever seeing aspen groves as beautiful as the ones i've seen this month. fall, don't leave me! it will be too painful, and our love is too deep. sighhhh.