Strawberry Mansion(2022)

Storyline

• In 2035, everyone must record their dreams and submit them to the government for review. Certain dream elements are taxed. James Preble is a Dream Auditor who is sent to investigate 80-year-old Arabella Isadora who is delinquent in submitting her dream recordings. She lives in the country at Strawberry Mansion. After parking his car at a roadside space, Preble walks across the grassy fields to Arabella's door. She invites him inside after she has removed a helmet adorned with electrical components and colored lights. She is a gracious hostess, offering him an ice cream cone and asks him to call her Bella. As Preble wanders around the house, he comes upon a room with shelves that are stuffed with 2000 old VHS tapes of her dreams. She has recorded them as required, albeit on tape instead of chips, but never submitted them. As he visits with Bella, Preble learns that not only are the dreams taxed but now they carry advertisements, too. That is why he so often buys a bucket of Kelly's Chicken and Red Rocket soda. Bella knows all this because her son Peter is the CEO of the largest advertising agency that is behind the scheme. Bella presents Preble with a helmet like hers. It will block the advertisements from his dreams. The more Preble reviews Bella's dream tapes, the more he falls in love with her younger self. Bella dies peacefully in her sleep which brings Peter home. When he finds out that Preble knows about his advertising ploy, he sets out to kill him. He knocks Preble unconscious and sets the house on fire. Preble has dreams in his unconscious state where Bella is trying to help him wake and escape the burning building. — Garon Smith