AllMovie

Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik both directs and stars in Perfumed Nightmare. After a lifetime in his somewhat backward hometown, Tahimik travels to Paris. His trip is motivated by his fascination with American technology (why he doesn't go to America is typical of the will o' the wisp nature of the storyline). Once in the City of Light, Tahimik is both fascinated by and disillusioned with the "wonders" of the modern world. The film has a delightfully spontaneous home-movie quality--literally so, since it was lensed in Super 8mm on a budget of less than $10,000. Truly a one-of-a-kind experience, Perfumed Nightmare was the winner of the Berlin Film Festival International Critics Award in 1983 (six years after its completion, and six years before its general distribution).