 |
| Courtesy of MGM |
Nerdy architect Miles Harding (Twin Peaks star Lenny
Von Dohlen) picks up a personal computer to help assist him with his work and
keep him on track including purchasing automated controllers for his household
appliances. One morning when he tries
downloading his employer’s work database, the computer overheats and he hastily
tries to cool it down with champagne.
Instead of short circuiting, the computer becomes self-aware (identifying
itself as Edgar voiced by Harold and Maude actor Bud Cort) and begins
speaking to Miles.
Meanwhile a young female cellist named Madeline Robistat (Virginia
Madsen) moves in next door and begins practicing her musical recitals when she
hears the computer Edgar playing a duet of her music alongside her. Thinking it was Miles who played the duet,
she begins to fall in love with him despite maintaining a loose relationship
with fellow musician Bill (Maxwell Caulfield).
Unbeknownst to Miles and Madeline however, the computer Edgar is
starting to develop feelings for her too, forming a combative long triangle
between the three of increasing hilarity, thrills and wonderful, wonderful
music.
Loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac with its triangular romantic
comedy with one character being played up by another for the affections of a
woman with rewrites by eventual Captain EO screenwriter Rusty Lemorande,
Electric Dreams dedicated to the memory of UNIVAC I (the first computer
for business applications) is a delightful music video montage romp and time
capsule of a particular moment in time. Chock
full of distinctive needle drops by the aforementioned Moroder, Jeff Lynne,
Culture Club and Heaven 17, the film is something of a progenitor to Spike Jonze’s
Her for how it tries to link the concept of artificial intelligence with
that of human love. While that film is
far more existentially challenging, Electric Dreams is a poppy, literally
and figuratively electrifying escapist ditty sure to form a smile on your face
if it doesn’t make you want to get up and dance.
Visually speaking Electric Dreams for largely
surrounding a computer in an apartment is really very dynamic. Shot by Ridley Scott’s Legend cinematographer
Alex Thomson often in wide-angled lenses interspersed with deftly crafted crane
shots, sometimes careening alongside the top of a computer keyboard or internal
circuitry, Electric Dreams looks hyperactive. Take for instance a scene where the computer
demonstrates its musical abilities and the way the camera encircles the lyrics
printing on the monitor, how it spins and rotates around the lyrics. You feel almost like you’re doing a slow
dance with the film as its multicolored club night lights flicker overhead.
In addition to the cacophony of hit tracks, you have a
firestorm of an original musical score by Giorgio Moroder that is every bit as
inspired as his works for Midnight Express, Scarface and his 1984
reworking of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
Some sequences rely almost entirely on Moroder’s music such as the
aforementioned duet scene which is a tour de force of sight, sound and editing
creating a synergistic montage that almost crackles off the screen and
speakers. The project also briefly
united Moroder with singer Phil Oakey of The Human League who would
subsequently collaborate on the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder
following the success of the hit single Together in Electric Dreams
which becomes the film’s mantra.
Most will recognize Lenny Von Dohlen as one of Laura Palmer’s
illicit lovers from Twin Peaks but few are aware of his charmingly nerdy
comic powers as a dorky architect who meets the girl of his dreams through his
personal computer. Virginia Madsen of Candyman
fame is delightful as the cellist who takes a liking to the evasive and shy
Miles Harding. Making a sneaky role in
the piece is Bud Cort as the voice of the computer Edgar who gives him a unique
personality of being boxed in and angrily wanting to break free. There are times when the character of Edgar
is endearingly sweet and other times when he’s threatening and dangerous, particularly
when he starts falling for the human Madeline he shared a duet with from before. And there are times when he’s downright
hilarious like when a dog wanders into the apartment and he responds with a
chorus of dogs barking.
Sadly despite the success of the title track Together in
Electric Dreams, the film was not a box office success, grossing $3 million
under its production budget costs. Despite
this, the film enjoyed soundtrack album sales and a cult following on home
video over the years. Though it would be
another six years before Steve Barron would direct again, his adaptation of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles put him back on track and reintroduced his use of
musical montage into the narrative.
With
renewed interest in the music of Giorgio Moroder thanks to Daft Punk’s smash
hit album Random Access Memories as well as a digitally remastered blu-ray
from Second Sight Films, Electric Dreams seen now almost seems tailor
made for fans of 80s nostalgic warm-hearted bright and cheery comedies with
just a hint of the then-emerging videogame console and personal computer era
peppered in for good measure. If nothing
else, this manages to be sweet without veering into cliché or schmaltz and in a
way reworks the music video montage format into something endearing and
surprisingly still fresh to this day.
One of the quintessential 80s romcoms you haven’t seen but probably
heard music from on the radio.
--Andrew Kotwicki
