This movie defies labels.

And it makes you think.

In my mind, that makes it a good film. Like the best art, literature or drama, hidden in the filmic conventions of a Hollywood movie What Dreams May Come holds that unidentifiable "something" which inspires continued thought and introspection for weeks after you've viewed it.

It's now been two weeks since I sloshed through a bitter autumn storm to catch "What Dreams May Come on its opening night. Two weeks later, I find myself forced to come to terms with the questions and ideas that have been swirling around in my head since that evening. So I sit down to write a review...but can't decide what to say about this film. It defies easy labeling. Is it a romance? An adventure, a fantasy, an allegory? Let's try movie-trailer English: "...a journey into the human soul." Or is it "a headfirst plunge into a universe bigger than all of us?" Trouble is--it's all of these, but manages to transcend them all to become something bigger. And that makes it both a joy and a challenge to review.

What Dreams May Come explores ideas of life, death, the human soul, true love, pain, loss, courage, destiny, friendship and character. The central character, Chris (Robin Williams), is a family man who loses his son and daughter in a car accident. Six years later, he too dies from an automobile accident, leaving his wife and soulmate Annie (Annabella Sciorra) behind. In the afterlife, he struggles with his own immortality as he watches his mourning wife begin a downward spiral toward suicide. To save her soul, he travels to the depths of Hell to convince her that death is an illusion and that love is permanent. Along the way, he receives guidance from the spirit Albert (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and witnesses the entire range of eternal human joy and suffering.

I've never before seen a film that is so outside the realm of ordinary life, yet so magnificently portrays the core of our existence. It's fantasy, all right--but undeniably real. Williams' character cuts straight to the true meaning of love. Not Hollywood love, but real love--the kind expressed through pure self-sacrifice. In the end, he finds that the only way to attain true life is to give up life itself for the sake of something greater. It's hard to make sense of the idea, but that's what this movie does. It searches for truth by embracing ambiguity. And just when you think you've learned something, you discover that nothing is certain. The characters are not who you think they are, and the outcome is always up in the air.

With its rich symbolism and imaginative depiction of the spirit world, What Dreams May Come comes as close as possible to representing the imagery and emotion of our nighttime dreams. And like dreams, the film explores concepts that we cannot fully comprehend or explain--the central concepts of human existence, the stuff that art is made of. Except this time we're really lucky--we get to experience this dream with our eyes open and our minds awake.