Instant Dreams

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john s @hipCRANK Oct 22, 2019 ROID RAGE This is a documentary about Polaroid instant film. Might not be so obvious, but really, it really is. Falling asleep halfway through does not diminish said proclamation. Might require several viewings (as was the case) and multiple strong coffees, but "Instant Dreams" tells (kinda) the story of the revolutionary film process (well, until digital made everything obsolete) that swept the nation, nay the world. Telling the tale in a bizarre, seemingly unrelated fork paths, this flick follows oddball folks as they expound on the virtues of not waiting a week to see their snaps, plus a love for the stupendous superiority of blurry, colour challenged shots. Folks covet their Polaroids. And now when the "back to analogue" scam, er, movement has convinced hipsters to buy vinyl records at $40 a pop, the resurgence of expensive old school photographs is a thing. Ramping up the quirk factor, is an oddly menacing, purply hued conspiratorial style doc within this doc, about mysterious science genius and Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land. In some rare, creepy, but in a cool X-Files way footage, he basically predicts the iPhone by taking out a dark object, faking/taking a picture with it, and making a claim that it will store all your information. Edwin H. Land passed in 1991. Is this for real? Is this like the moon landing? Who knows? Not me. But clearly a full blown documentary on Edwin H. Land is deserving, if not a ninety hour PBS project by Ken Burns. Filled with weird, psychedelic interludes (the staying awake challenge), there's a "Space Odyssey: 2001" vibe going on here. As in, there's something way bigger than physical photos at play here. Or maybe not. I loved "Instant Dreams", all three times, perhaps for the wrong reasons, but there you have it. Snap snap snap. - hipCRANK See more

May 19, 2019 Saw it. Loved it. Took out the old camera. Enjoyed my day. See more

Apr 20, 2019 A hypnotic almost spiritual doc, that feels like a marriage between 2001 a Space Odyssey and a Werner Herzog documentary. Riveting, unsettling and joyous at the same time. A real gem. See more

Apr 18, 2019 Wonderful quirky documentary, that takes you on a journey to a magical analog place. The visuals are dazzling, hypnotic even and the small intermingled stories heartfelt. Not your average doc, still a journey I very much enjoyed. See more

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Instant Dreams

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