Has anyone ever watched this obscure film? I saw it when I was about 13, and it freaked me out at the time, and I was too young to even hypothesize anything about its meaning. I only have a vague memory of what it was about, so I'll tell you what I can.
It takes place from the perspective of this poor nobody who dreams a lot. The only thing is, what he dreams becomes reality. I think his mother died in a wreck and he dreams about saving her and then when he awakes he gets a phone call from her or something like that. I don't remember the beginning very well because it was very difficult for my concrete linear thought patterns to follow. I just remember that his reality changed to what he experienced in his dreams. In the world, some type of terrible disease called the Lendrix Virus had swept Europe, Asia, and Africa, causing 75% of the population to die. People fled to the Americas where the disease never came; thus the Americas became vastly overpopulated. The main character becomes concerned about his dreams, and goes to visit a doctor. The doctor decides to do some type of sleep threapy on this guy to see what is so strange about his dreams. The doctor somehow finds out that the dreams create reality, and tells this guy to dream about certain things using hypnosis. The doctor uses this guy's ability to give himself a nice office, nice wife, and make the Lendrix Virus come to the United States. During each session, he manipulates the dreams to make reality more pleasant for himself. The guy starts catching on eventually, and believes the doctor is up to more than just treating him. He finds out about his ability, but not before the doctor gets to take advantage of one last session. In this session, the doctor is very angry, and the reality that he creates this time casues his beautiful mountain vista to become a volcanic hell, and the bright and shiny city to become a slum. Then I remember at the end of the movie, the guy runs off into the countryside with a woman. He realizes that this Lathe of Heaven is very dangerous, and that he cannot stay with her. He must go where it cannot be abused. And that was the end of the movie.
As I said, it has been almost five years since I've seen it. I filed it in my bizarro pile and never gave it another thought. I was reading through this section one day about various bizarre movies, and this one popped into the front of my mind. I don't know what I've left out or possibly skewed. I haven't ever heard of it since. If anyone has seen it or remembers it, I'd like to hear your opinions.
It takes place from the perspective of this poor nobody who dreams a lot. The only thing is, what he dreams becomes reality. I think his mother died in a wreck and he dreams about saving her and then when he awakes he gets a phone call from her or something like that. I don't remember the beginning very well because it was very difficult for my concrete linear thought patterns to follow. I just remember that his reality changed to what he experienced in his dreams. In the world, some type of terrible disease called the Lendrix Virus had swept Europe, Asia, and Africa, causing 75% of the population to die. People fled to the Americas where the disease never came; thus the Americas became vastly overpopulated. The main character becomes concerned about his dreams, and goes to visit a doctor. The doctor decides to do some type of sleep threapy on this guy to see what is so strange about his dreams. The doctor somehow finds out that the dreams create reality, and tells this guy to dream about certain things using hypnosis. The doctor uses this guy's ability to give himself a nice office, nice wife, and make the Lendrix Virus come to the United States. During each session, he manipulates the dreams to make reality more pleasant for himself. The guy starts catching on eventually, and believes the doctor is up to more than just treating him. He finds out about his ability, but not before the doctor gets to take advantage of one last session. In this session, the doctor is very angry, and the reality that he creates this time casues his beautiful mountain vista to become a volcanic hell, and the bright and shiny city to become a slum. Then I remember at the end of the movie, the guy runs off into the countryside with a woman. He realizes that this Lathe of Heaven is very dangerous, and that he cannot stay with her. He must go where it cannot be abused. And that was the end of the movie.
As I said, it has been almost five years since I've seen it. I filed it in my bizarro pile and never gave it another thought. I was reading through this section one day about various bizarre movies, and this one popped into the front of my mind. I don't know what I've left out or possibly skewed. I haven't ever heard of it since. If anyone has seen it or remembers it, I'd like to hear your opinions.