An absence of sound in Takahiro Ueno’s seemingly inevitable A fiction right after you wake up, triggers, at first, a seriousness that belies the understated humor infusing this entrancing film. Filmmaker Ueno deftly pairs text-on-screen excerpts from his dream diary with a visual track of travel photos (taken by a friend) stacked neatly by hand (hands we see), one-by-one on a table shot by an overhead camera, creating a quietly comic and priceless dream travelogue. Satisfyingly drenched with the absurdities of dream stuff and coupled with the smartly curated vacation photos, A fiction right after you wake up will be as inspiring to writers as to filmmakers, and an all-around pleasure to us dream-keepers, travelers, and ordinary filmgoers.
