10 Awesome Movies About Dreaming

ByTallis Vale Posted on Updated on

Have you ever had one of those insanely detailed dreams where you’re 100% sure it’s real?  I mean you can remember this thing like it was yesterday.   It feels like you were there for hours, maybe even days and you wake up not realizing how it’s even possible that this stuff entered your head.

I tell you man.  The world of dreams is a weird one.  Now whether they unlock the keys to the universe and all that is something I’ll let the scientists discuss.  What I will talk about however, is how movies have depicted dreams.

There are 10 in particular that I think did it quite well…..

Alice in Wonderland


Like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, this is one of the movies about dreams that mostly takes place during a dream, as Alice is transported to her own colorful dream world inhabited by worried white rabbits. Oh and let’s not forgot about the magic mushrooms and amounts of acid the creators must have been on while directing this movie.

Flatliners


Of all the movies on this list Flatliners is one where it’s more about death than dreams but I’ll argue that dreams are huge part of this film. Granted the people are supposed to be dead but they’re still having dreams are they not? Eh, they are.

Inception


It’s incredibly complicated to even discuss but those of you that have seen it can appreciate this film.  But essentially we’re talking about is entering someone’s dream state and subconscious  in order to manipulate their future thoughts.   It was a great movie but anyone who thinks they really understand it is wrong.

Requiem for a Dream


The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. Watching the addicts spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in. It is shocking and eye-opening but demands to be seen by both addicts and non-addicts alike.

What Dreams May Come


I love this movie more for the cinematography than anything

Wizard of Oz


This is one of the best classic movies about dreams, as Dorothy leaves her dull, black-and-white farmhouse behind for a magical world full of witches, wizards, munchkins, and, of course, lions and tigers and bears.  It’s also one of the first movies where you realize the entire movie was a dream. TONS of movies used this style after this film.

Nightmare on Elm Street


And here’s one of the movies that explores the dark side of dreams: nightmares. And not just nightmares. About the scariest possible character who shows up in a Nightmare. Definitely a cool concept and pretty “groundbreaking” in terms of horror.

Vanilla Sky


It’s one of the best movies about lucid dreaming (having dreams and being able to manipulate them), as well as a much-overlooked psychological sci-fi masterpiece about the future of dreams: if given the chance, would you choose to live a dream world, or would you prefer reality?  The only thing I didn’t like in this film was Kurt Russell.  He kind of pissed me off.

Shutter Island


Like ‘Inception’, it also stars Leonard DiCaprio experiencing the power of dreams. There are definitely some very powerful and disturbing sequences when Leo’s cop character is lucid dreaming, like when he encounters his burning lover under ashes falling like snow, but you’ll enjoy discovering just how powerful the human mind can be.  Plus we can’t ruin the end for you guys can we?

Brazil


Set in an incredibly bureaucratic world where one little typo can spell doom for an unsuspecting citizen. Sam Lowry is a citizen in this society, dealing with his dull job by becoming a winged hero in his dreams. But when he sees the girl of his dreams in real-life, will he become a real-life hero. Plus it was done by Terry Gilliam so you really can’t go wrong.

Lover of all things video game, anime, or manga. I'm passionate about these things and virtually nothing else. Hope you enjoy my musings!

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42 Comments

  4. One I particularly enjoyed that wasn’t mentioned was Richard Linklater’s Waking Life, which had various people talking about theories on dreaming and life to the protagonist, played by Wiley Wiggins. Also, it was rotoscoped (a bit like his later A Scanner Darkly, but with many different styles, all of which, coupled with their constant changing, particularly suited the dreamlike state of the film).

  9. I wish I could go to sleep at night, dream up whatever I wanted to dream up, and wake up feeling like it’s been weeks or months since I’ve actually gone to work. Essentially I want to feel like I just got back from vacation (refreshed and relaxed) every time I wake up in the morning. Where is that technology lol?

    @MR – Science of Sleep is one of my all time faves.

  12. i’d say that the Matrix was about dreaming too, and as a huge, collective dream shared by the entire human population, that should also be in the list.

    plus, i’m pretty sure lotsa people turned a little paranoid after watching that movie.

  15. Good list. I’ve been holding back on watching “Ink” for a while, and I finally got around to it this weekend. I would definitely put it on this list. I’ve loved “What Dreams May Come” for it’s cinematography too, but Ink took the title after this Friday for me.

  16. My list would include: ‘Paprika,’ ‘Eternal Sunshine,’ David Lynch movies like ‘Eraserhead’ and ‘Mulholland Drive,’ and ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ (short film), though I don’t remember if it was a dream or not–it certainly was surreal and symbolic though.

    I agree with the Bunuel comment.

    I haven’t seen ‘Brazil’ yet. -_-

  17. When I used to write stories (mostly fan fiction) when I was around 12-14 years old, I wished I could hook up a harness to my head that was connected to the computer (like the ones you see people wear in science experiments with all the sticky white circle pads and electrical wires on various parts of the person’s head). With this device, I could take those stories I wrote, and live them out in my dreams. Not only that, but say I didn’t “input” a dream into the machine and I just had one of my own dreams, the computer would “save” the dream into the computer for future dreams. So if I had a REALLY good dream I could re-dream it whenever. Also, I could watch the dream on the computer and study it if I wanted to figure out why I dreamed of whatever it is I dreamed of. Also so I could show people my dreams.

    I haven’t thought about this little “dream” of mine (if you’ll pardon the pun) in probably 10-12 years, but now I’d like to think that an invention similar to this can’t be too far off into the future.

  18. No j5, you are not the only one feeling this way. Dreamscape was indeed a sweet little B movie from the 80’s…which I’ve seen in the 80’s.

    Somewhat an okay list (thank you for remembering Brazil). On the other hand listing Requiem for a Dream doesn’t make any sense, but then again not including Mulholland Drive doesn’t make any sense either, just like a dream.

  19. I remember watching a cartoon as a kid (I think it was ‘The Jetsons’) where the kid, I dont recall his name, would go to sleep and the mother had options on the bed to choose what kind of dream he would have. I sure wish that someone would invent that kind of a bed!!!

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  32. Pingback: 10 Awesome Movies About Dreaming - monstermike's posterous

  34. I really don’t think either OZ or wonderland was *about* dreaming.
    Seem pretty miss categorized there.
    I mean, “Total Recall” has more to do with dreaming then those films.

    Paprika should be on this list for sure though seeing its very explicitly about dreaming, a superb film and inspired another superb film. Love paprika so much I wrote a little review awhile back.(http://www.rateoholic.co.uk/main/Rateoholic_Frame.html#!DisplayReview=85)

  36. Total recall was also a winner, with Arnie.
    I’m trying to find out the name of an old movie that was also about nightmares. It was about 2 guys who had bad daydreams happening to them, almost similar to nightmare on elm street, and they had to arm themselves and go ‘into’ the nightmare to fight against whatever it was, I can’t remember. Can anyone help me think of the title?

    Thanks

  37. Oh btw,
    try any of the following before you go to bed, if you want to experience the ultimate lucid dreaming experience:

    Eat lots of cheese,
    eat raw meat,
    do a couple of situps, or any abs exercises

    DO NOT combine any of the above under any circumstances. You will suffer the consequences! (I’m just joking, try it out)

    If it’s nightmares you want, play a scary computer game before bedtime in combination with the above.

    Sweet dreams

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