In high school, I took a psychology course during which I learned, erroneously or not, that dreams are just random images fired off by your brain. Some meaning is attached to them, but it's largely after the fact. After learning this, I more or less stop being interested in them. Any value they had as insights to my life were basically negated by the fact that dreams were entirely random. Other people's dreams became especially dull to me. "Oh, I had the weirdest dream..." essentially means "Oh, I had a perfectly normal dream." Yeah, I'm kinda a jerk. But I just don't tend to find discussions of actual dreams very interesting. (Fictional dreams, especially prophetic visions and whatnot, are fine,…

Dreams is a unique concept for a film, consisting entirely of short films inspired by Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams. It is unlike anything else in his filmography and pure surreal arthouse. The images are beautiful and abstract, the storytelling often formless and wordless but forever hypnotic. All the sections are interesting in their own way, but the dreamy and slow presentation makes for something much more. Whilst Dreams is somewhat like Dodes'ka-den in having multiple stories, it is all structured and separated clearly here.

There is much speculation as to how this jigsaw fits into Kurosawa's personal life. What do these dreams tell us about Kurosawa's mind? Nothing really, or rather no more than our own dreams do. Each dream…

Afterthoughts: Wow! What an extraordinary delight for eye, ear, head and heart.

While Dreams will have less appeal than the majority of Kurosawa’s filmography to those who above all crave narrative, it cannot be denied that this beautiful series of distinct vignettes, inspired by the writer-director’s own nightly visions, is pure cinema; a full-on display of how artful the medium can be.

The makeup, costumes, locations and overall production design is absolutely stunning, and arguably the finest in a Kurosawa film, as too is the magnificent music by Shinichirô Ikebe that penetrates the soul and arouses goosebumps down the arms.

Dreams is a two hour journey through a host of sights and sounds that mystify, stagger, soothe, enchant, excite, horrify…

Kurosawa's Ōbayashi film. Brief vignettes and accounts of dreams, memories which are here, and then aren't. In Dreams, it's almost as if it's the first time I've seen Kurosawa this free; the work feels so fleshed out, so free from the control of studios and producers, and thus so genuine. Dreams plays out in an episodic manner, all of them somewhat incoherent, weird, and at first seemingly unrelated to each other, but as a whole they all add up to become this masterful and beautiful collection of images and sound that not only dazzle the eyes but touch the heart.

This film is possibly Kurosawa's most surreal and experimental work ever, with insanely beautiful colour palettes and extremely picturesque imagery.…

Criterion Collection Spine #842
(Foreign language film)

(Adam & Justin's Letterboxd Movie Club)

How about a glimpse into the vivid dreamscape of legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa ... YES PLEASE!

"I had another Dream."

Dreams is definitely the most unconventional of Kurosawa's movies that I have seen, since it is an anthology film divided into eight parts. Each segment features some stunning visuals which were inspired by the Director's dreams, thoughts on nature/humanity, and Japanese folklore. While the colorful images and traditions were fascinating to watch, at times the lengthy dialogue felt like Kurosawa was lecturing us, which tended to drag down the pacing.

Overall it was cool to see Kurosawa present this short subject style of filmmaking, compared to the sprawling…

Criterion challenge 2021 part 2: Akira Kurosawa 

“A scene that looks like a painting doesn't make a painting. If you take the time to look closely, all of nature has its own beauty.” 

I’m on my third Akira Kurosawa film of the day, that’s right, my day consisted of literally watching and fully indulging in on all this brilliance, I couldn’t be happier. 

There are eight shorts in this beautiful arthouse of an anthology, each are tiny, colorful, sensory-packed and atmospheric visions into this geniuses midnight mind. I without a doubt, would sit here and watch full length films for each of these segments and be in complete awe... but give me 2 hour long feature length films for The Weeping…

I’ve also had a wet dream where Martin Scorsese was Vincent Van Gogh, very cool Kurosawa.

I’ve always been fascinated with the depiction of dreams in film. Awhile back I labeled film as the truest form of expression and dreams as the purest form of escapism and the rawest look at the internal psyche. So I think when brought together human expression and desire are perfectly molded into an artistic interpretation of the human condition. Kurosawa’s Dreams takes this idea even further by depicting multiple dreams, not connected by narrative but rather bound together strongly by tone, themes, and atmosphere.

The worlds present in Dreams are often fantastical landscapes perfectly accentuated with exuberant colors, meticulous and precise framing, and a…