A collection of tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.
Writing about films by Kurosawa at this point starts to feel like preaching to the choir, but whatever! After recently having rewatched it I couldn't go on knowing it didn't have its own entry here. As stated above, it consists of eight short stories all based on dreams that Kurosawa's had once or more times during his long and eventful life. It doesn't take long before it's one of the more beautiful films I've ever seen, with fairytale-like imagery and characters from Japanese folklore all come to life. We're treated to stories about everything life encompasses; childhood, love, suffering, nature and death. The range of the tales told here reaches from innocent youth to burning fields of nuclear war, the sweetness of flowers floating down the river and ghosts of an army platoon. Everything filmed in Eastman color which obviously was a great choice because it looks stunning and rich with life.
To dissect and analyze what the vastly different dreams actually mean would probably add up to material for more essays than I could ever write, so let's just watch and enjoy the film for what it is, which is also probably what Kurosawa always wanted.
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
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