Electric Dreams

A sci-fi romantic comedy with a new wave soundtrack composed by Giorgio Moroder that prophetically explores the perils of AI.

Mild mannered San Franciscan architect Miles Harding (Lenny Von Dohlen) is talked into buying a personal computer in order to assist him in his designs for earthquake proof buildings. After he accidentally douses the keyboard with champagne his computer becomes sentient. Complicating matters further, Miles finds himself in an unlikely love triangle with a talented cellist who lives in his building (Virginia Madsen) and his increasingly possessive computer (voiced by Bud Cort).

Curator's note
The debut film of music video director Steve Barron who most famously directed Madonna’s Burning Up, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and Dire Straits' Money for Nothing, Electric Dreams certainly reflected the 80s music video aesthetic. Borrowing freely from the classic French play Cyrano de Bergerac, the film’s release coincided with Time magazine naming the personal computer its ‘Machine of the Year’. The soundtrack spawned a massive hit single with Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder’s Together in Electric Dreams but its topical themes didn’t translate into box office success. However, with time it gained a strong cult following, notably for Moroder’s new wave score and its prescience around AI.