a dream within a dream that becomes a nightmare: the dream of hollywood turns sour, an unrequited love murderous. there’s no parsing of dream vs reality bc it is all a tape recording, as that scene in club silencio tells us. after all, what makes a movie but sounds and images on a screen, a product of the hollywood dream?

a lot of this feels dated in terms of cinematography & unintentionally camp but i really love how the film sets up & subverts characters to show how there is no true good nor evil in this world, that even monks and snake spirits are susceptible to human follies like pride, lust, & yes love.

to ascend is to be human, to fall is to be human, to be human is the dream & the limitation & therein lies the eternal struggle, i think i like the film the more i think about it