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A diverse mix of characters contemplate dreams and the city in this haunting film by George Haydock, Matthew Rowlands and Alex Mannion-Jones.

In this stylised documentary, the three co-directors examine the relationship between the inner and outer lives of their subjects, finding focus within the twin concepts of 鈥渃ities鈥� and 鈥渄reams鈥�.

Interviews with real people are layered over creative sequences and, in all but one case, the people you hear are the same as those you see. The elderly woman whose voice features in the film did not wish to appear on screen, and so is played by someone else. Spoken-word verse is sometimes intercut with interviews and woven into the film鈥檚 visuals, creating a deliberately suggestive effect.

This film is Rated by the 麻豆官网首页入口 Fresh team. Rated films are those the team or guest reviewers enjoyed, and feel are worth highlighting because of their production techniques. Reviews may contain spoilers.

David Quinn, 麻豆官网首页入口 Fresh researcher, says:

There are two things that stand out about this film. The first is the way it seems to muddy the waters between the factual and the fictional.

The voiceovers are real people but the visuals have a haunting, hallucinatory quality. In some cases, scenes are deliberately staged and they are often loaded with symbolism. From the opening scene with the camera focused on a silent girl, apparently staring at the sky, I felt I wanted to be taken on whatever journey this film was about to take me.

The other stand-out thing about Concrete Dreams is its technical excellence. Each shot is composed superbly, making great use of Canon DSLRs and a mix of lenses, topped off with a bold, filmic colour grade. The sound is also very good, with odd echoes, drones and reverberations running throughout. The music adds a lot 鈥� I particularly liked the way it adds a mystical, even slightly spooky feel to the woman鈥檚 increasingly supernatural description of her experience of dreaming at around 5鈥�10-6鈥�15.

The film has a very simple central idea, being about the twin ideas of cities and dreams. Characters are invited to reflect on these two concepts, bringing in their own experiences. None of the characters are formally introduced 鈥� instead, a bit like characters in dreams themselves, they appear from nowhere, occasionally do something unexplained, and suddenly vanish.

There are also some sequences that have a strong dream-like quality. Think about the man tearing pages from his notebook and scattering them on the breeze, the odd way cars and people disappear behind a tree at 1鈥�37, or the shadow on the water at 9鈥�15. These are some ways in which the fabric and style of the film reflect its theme of dreams, and lifts the film several notches above the ordinary.

This is clearly an experimental film that blends fantasy and reality in a way that is perhaps not the most obvious fit for 麻豆官网首页入口 Three. But Fresh is also about showcasing new talent and on that score I felt genuinely excited watching this. The energy of the filmmakers, their technical prowess and their ability to bring such an original eye to their subject makes it an obvious choice for one of my Rated films.

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