Sueños eléctricos

This movie is rather funny and like some of the other viewers, the main song has stuck with me since the movie was first released. One point this movie tried to make is that there can never be enough montages. Without all the musical montages in this movie, the film would have lasted only thirty-minutes or so. Anyway, if your in the mood for a movie with a strange love triangle that doesn't involve questioning a characters sexuality, watch this.

This movie is about an architect living in San Francisco that buys a computer to help organize his life. Thanks to a unwanted computer overload and champagne spillage develops a mind of its own. This results in havoc between Miles and his neighbor Madeline who develop a relationship. Soon the three are involved in a love triangle between man, woman and machine.

This movie a great soundtrack with Culture Club and Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder0. The films style has a zippy pace and feels like watching a long music video. This aspect of the film hasn't dated, however some of the technology has which is fun to look back and view.

Overall, this is a lovable romantic computer fantasy and has a soft spot in my heart.

When I first saw 'Being John Malkovich', I didn't really know much about - it was a while since I'd been to the cinema because of work and I went to see it on the strength of John Cusack. As I sat in that cinema full of bored teenagers, watching the story unfold, I was amazed at how similar an experience it actually was to the first film I really fell in love with, 'Electric Dreams'.

I've never been completely sure what I especially liked about the film. Virginia Madsen certainly has a big sister / first crush quality, with her woolly jumpers and body wrapped around a cello. Lenny Van Dollen is certainly as good an actor as anyone whose worked in this kind of film and offers work of quite subtle range. And the computer is heartbreaking. And the music is lovely. This is perhaps a film which is uncriticisable because it captures a time in life so beautifully.

Made in 1984, 'Dreams' has a plot similar in scope to 'Malkovich'. Miles subordinating of the newly sentient computer parallel's Craig Schwartz control of the film actor. As the computer operator uses Edger to woo the love of both their lives, so the puppeteer controls Malkovich to get into the panties of his 'business partner'.

There is no doubt the film has dated, although in its own way it uses visual techniques which at the time must have seemed as extreme as the flourishes of the latter film. Its use of pop video, in the sequences of high emotion, especially in the scene of where Miles is chased around the house, are at least echoed in the chase sequence at the heart of 'Malkovich'.

With all this in mind, its perhaps a time to re-assess this film as more than the fluff its previously been thought of as being.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. Watching a restored version of this film on DVD put a smile on my face. It's a warm science fiction romance about an electronic prodigy with the sensibilities of a child come to life.

Miles is the proverbial introvert who has a relatively good job, and is smitten by an arrival of the opposite sex in his building. But at the same time Miles, being a paper and pencil architect, is wondering how he can get his life organized. He goes for the obvious option of seeking a left brained solution. In other words; a computer.

But the logic circuits of keyboard, monitor and printer cannot compare to the ultimate solution of a second mind in the form of a the fairer sex. Miles discovers the thing that a computer can not give him, and Edgar, his computer, discovers what he cannot have and has always misunderstood about human feelings.

It's a simple film with lots of cinematic trickery to make it appear bigger than it actually is. It's a film about heart and mind, and about which wins out over the other. It's a classic tale of the mind finding the heart, and the heart finding peace of mind with another soul.

One of the appealing things is seeing various exteriors shot locally, including a local radio personality whom I used to listen to on KMEL, the Blue Angels, Palace of Fine Arts and a number of other places. The music is of course classic 80's fare, and the primitive electronic tones highlight's the time and theme

It's a delightful warm-hearted film that I waited many years to see again in its full widescreen glory, and relive some younger days when things were a little more innocent, and a little more lively. When computers needed dialup modems, electronic music had just come into its own, and video games were still using cartridges (note the Activision cartridges for the Atari 2600 behind Miles when he purchases his computer, Edgar).

Well, I waited well over 20 years to see it, and I'm glad I did. It's the kind of simple and loving film that I would be proud to shoot for the rest of my life. It has heart, it has warmth, it is a segment of 1980s San Francisco Bay Area that puts a smile on this viewers face. It is electronic romance San Francisco 1980's style.

Please watch it and enjoy, but try not to be too judgmental.

With the one of the best romantic songs performed in the history of cinema..."Electric Dreams by Giorgio Moroder", who was also the composer of the soundtrack for this movie.

Yes, welcome to the pop 80's, with the first computers, who looks in todays "Internet era" slightly obsolete, simple, but cute romances and naturally, trendy pop music which gives a special push for love scenes. Sure, I was only a little boy, when I saw this one in 1984, but despite the simplicity I fell a love with it. Maybe it was, because of a very cute blond Madeline or maybe it was for computers, which was very popular in our country back than. Beats me. But, I'm sure that there was one thing I didn't forget. An above mentioned front song.

It followed me through all these years, and in October 2003 I finally get a chance to see my childhood love again. How was it?

Well, it didn't touched me, like back in the past, until the romantic ending where I felt again this great felling of the 80's when everything seemed so simple...

So, all in all, Electric dreams will always have a special place in my heart, although it has some flaws, simple script and some holes in the story...but hey, it's either you fall in love with this one or it will leave you cold...I had to decided it, so I rented it again, and the rest you know, if you read my critic:)

7 out of 10

(with a special ticket to my top 10 most special movies)