Best films about dreams

Given that Christopher Nolan's oneiric thriller Inception is the blockbuster hit of the summer, now is an appropriate time to think of other dream-related movies. So, put your feet up, drift off, and as you slip into a netherworld of subsconscious fancy, see if you agree with the GWG's shortlist of the best films about dreams.

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

One two Freddy's coming for you ... Wes Craven's Freddy Krueger remains the ultimate screen bogey man, whose entry into reality through the nightmares of teenagers in order to exact revenge for the actions of their parents retains its power to terrify.

2. Monsters Inc. (2002)

Mix Pixar with Billy Crystal and John Goodman and you get screen magic. Monsters Inc., a tale of a company harnessing the power of children's screams from their nightmares, is as witty, charming and inventive as anything the great animation studio has done.

3. The City of Lost Children (1995)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro create an alternative universe of bizarre, absurd quality for this dark fantasy where twisted scientist Krank kidnaps children in order to experience their dreams. 

4. Mulholland Drive (2002)

Much of David Lynch's work is an exploration of the hinterland of the unconscious. Mullholland Drive might be seen as the history of the dream of Hollywood as told by a magic mushroom addict. This story of an aspiring actress called Betty who moves to LA and begins a relationship with an amnesiac called Rita, is odd, confusing, and, in classic Lynchian fashion, ridiculous. But it's all the better for it.

5. Requiem for a Dream (2001)

Darren Aronofsky's second film, an adaptation of Hubert Selby Junior's novel, is a bleak ride through the paranoia and threat of drug addiction. As the characters lose themselves to delusion, entering a dreamworld that undermines their sanity, it becomes increasingly difficult to watch.  

6. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Godfather of cinema dream stories, this endlessly delightful tale of Dorothy's escape from the grey of Kansas, into the technicolour splendour of Oz, has the primal quality of myth. If this does not transport you somewhere over that damn rainbow, you must have overcome the human need for transcendence.

12 August 2010