One of the most visionary, deeply personal works in the 60-year career of the master behind Rashomon, The Seven Samurai and Ran. Featuring eight episodes rich in imagery and insight (and casting MARTIN SCORSESE as a feisty Vincent Van Gogh), it explores the costs of war, the perils of nuclear power and especially humankind's need to harmonize with nature. You will be enchanted ... and enthralled.
Produced with assistance from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Dreams is an omnibus of eight short stories and parables that spell enchantment at every turn. The opening story, "Sun Under the Rain," emerges from director Akira Kurosawa's personal memories, as a child (whose house is modeled after Kurosawa's childhood home in Koishikawa) witnesses a fox's wedding ceremony in a magical forest. The Garden of Eden motif continues in "The Peach Orchard," while Lucas's ILM special effects group shines in the glorious "Crows" segment, in which an art admirer finds himself living within the paintings of Van Gogh (played with concentrated energy by Kurosawa enthusiast Martin Scorsese). In the idyllic closing fable, "The Village of the Watermills," a centenarian claims that "people nowadays have forgotten that they are also part of nature." The equally wise Kurosawa reinforces the old man's claim through these vivid but ultimately life-affirming tableaux. --Kevin Mulhall
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Zzzzzzzzzzz...:
After reading all the glowing reviews here I was really expecting something much, much better. I found this film mind-numbingly boring. Like another reviewer said, it's like watching a screen saver for a couple of hours. But this is just my opinion. Obviously, many people found this film enjoyable, but it's not for everyone. I'll give it two stars.
Psycotic Nightmares:
It always amazes me that folks always wax poetic about Akira Kurosawa and never seem to get past the director to get to the story. Now I have to admit that I'm really into Japanese cinema, but this is a very artsy movie. If you are looking for Yojimbo, bypass this. This is not that kind of movie. This is the kind of movie that someone with a liberal arts degree who enjoys visiting art museums might enjoy. It is a bunch of increasing dark vignettes with a happy one at the end. The first involves a... more info
Dreaming in Shinto:
As usual with most things I love, this film is not for everyone. It is very much an "art film" and you have to like that sort of thing, but there are a couple of extra elements here that will separate the wheat from the chaff in whether someone else will "like" this... Specifically, it's in Japanese (w/English subtitles), most of it is in "real time", and it helps to understand Japanese concepts of Nature (where living things such as trees have "spirits" inside them.) Aparently director Akira Kurosawa... more info
Gaia:
I don't know if Kurosawa was familiar with the term "gaia" but that's what Dreams is about. The overall point of Dreams is: we're wrecking the planet in our selfish pursuit of convenience and comfort and our foolishness will be our own demise. The greatest filmmaker of the only country to have suffered through atomic bombings strings together eight loosely connected shorts all more-or-less about the beauty and power of nature and man's callousnes towards it. Inevitably, some of the shorts are stronger... more info
