Movie Review--Dreams

Released in 1990 and based on actual dreams of director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. There are eight different vignettes, each separate and seemingly unrelated, but at the end, they all eventually tie together, with the common themes of how man is destroying or taking on nature (chopping down trees, nuclear energy, war) and how much better it would be to live simply and with nature.

The eight dreams are:

1 Sunshine Through The Rain

2 The Peach Orchard

3 The Blizzard

4 The Tunnel

5 Crows

6 Mount Fuji in Red

7 The Weeping Demon

8 Village of the Watermills 

Kurosawa has had a big influence on filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, who is in the Crows segment. I’ve not seen any of his other films, but will check out Ran and The Seven Samurai. Dreams is more visual than dialog filled, but the cinematography is stunning. Worth watching, especially if you are interested in filmmaking. If you are an action/blockbuster kind of movie fan, then perhaps you should skip it.

Of the eight dreams, my favorite was 3 The Blizzard.

Comments

[Damon]

Cathy,

I've always thought that the individual vignettes represented the "stages" that a male goes through in his life and the gradual attainment of some sort of wisdom as he hopefully leaves behind his warring ways and learns to live in peace, with both other people and with the earth. In some ways, it's also a big circle, with the funeral representing (to me) the end of one person's life cycle as another is just beginning. It's always been one of my favorites of his films and the colors and cinematography are beautiful.

Damon

[JT]

I love the part with Vincent Van Gogh while prelude to a rain drop plays in the background!