Dreams (1990)

 Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams"


Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams" is the final film I will be watching in my Kurosawa deep dive, despite him having two more films after this one. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began the film. I knew that it was a collection of vignettes from Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams. As a film, perhaps it is not the most lively and entertaining experience. It can be quite slow and quite uneventful at times. However, I was still experiencing contemplations over the film that I thought were quite engaging. 

Because we are seeing visions of Kurosawa's dreams, we also seem to be engrossing ourselves in the man himself - his fears, his anxieties, his hopes, etc. Because of this, the film seems to be a subconscious rendering of the human being that is Akira Kurosawa. I found this to be slightly rewarding after watching 15 films in his discography. Perhaps this would not be so rewarding if a viewer was going in blind. Although, I think that might not be true. As a standalone piece, it seems to work for me as a coherent musing on the nature of life, its horror and its grace. Because each vignette is so abstract in nature, the viewer can freely take it and apply it to their own anxieties, fears, wonder, etc. The film is simply an open display of the subconscious, a meditation on reality and our world. For that, it's definitely something of note for me.

 


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