Regular Price $19.98

Starring: Akira Terao,  Mitsuko Baisho,  Toshie Negishi,  Mieko Harada,  Mitsunori Isaki, 
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa,  Ishirô Honda, 
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1990-08-24
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format: Anamorphic,  Color,  DVD-Video,  Subtitled,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

Description
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.

Amazon.com
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 for Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

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 kept a dream journal, and this film presents 8 such dreams that particularly affected him. Mission accomplished: this film effectively sucked me in and put me in the place of Kurosawa during each vignette. I presume that each segment's ending was when he woke up.

There is some powerful stuff here, everything from nightmares to simply surreal episodes straight from his subconscious. Kurosawa bares his soul to the viewer, and the effect is truly moving. One of them (where he's stuck in the mother of all blizzards and the situation is demonstrably hopeless) absolutely crushed me. I freely admit that other segments reduced me to tears. If a film can communicate its effects that accurately and vividly to the viewer, it must be doing something right.

Of the 8 dreams, 2 are "so so" though that's me as a Westerner, and at least I can see why they would have more import to the director. The rest of the film more than makes up for them with their power.

In all likelihood, you have never seen anything like this film, so that alone makes it worth checking out. It is certainly worth watching once, and I'd recommend watching it twice so you don't have the anxiety of knowing whether everything works out all right (or not!) hanging over your head.Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

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 than others and individual tastes differ. The first two and the fourth and fifth are my favorite. Sunshine Through the Rain, about a fox wedding, combines natural beauty and mystery perfectly. Don't fool with mother nature. Peach Orchard combines beautiful vibrant colors and a Noh drama presentation about the importance of preservation. The Tunnel is an extended meditation on the loss and shame of war. Crows is a surprisingly cool, trippy time travel tale about meeting Vincent Van Gogh and living in his works. Martin Scorcese, of all people, plays Van Gogh and is very good in the brief portrayal. I found the rest of the shorts to be less effective. None are awful but a few tend to tell instead of show. The last short, in particular, while pretty with all the watermills, is just a lecture. All the shorts feature striking imagery and all are shot completely or mostly outdoors.

Dreams is heavily invested in the spirit world. Of the eight shorts, six feature spirits or ghosts of some sort. Children are featured prominently and there is a certain childlike simplicity to the storytelling. The days of Seven Samurai, Rashomon level of profundity were behind him for the 80 year old director. This is a relaxed, simpler Kurosawa in his twilight.Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

it is amazing
It's the most amazing Japanese film I've ever seen. And the quality of tape was really good - even I can say "perfect".Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

dreams
I think Kurosawa's best, especially the Van Gough sequence, with the Cherry Blossoms a close second.Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

Out There..
Good as far creative film, but hard to watch if you are looking for a plot. I have had a few friends think I am crazy for buying these movies off amazon, but you don't know if they will make some sort of impact in you life until you watch them. Buy them all because the more you see the better perspective you have on the film industry and on life...Akira Kurosawa's Dreams