Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

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Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

PG

1990

1h 59m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

30 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

This imaginative Japanese production presents a series of short films by lauded director Akira Kurosawa. In one chapter, a young boy spies on foxes that are holding a wedding ceremony; the following installment features another youth, who witnesses a magical moment in an orchard. In the segment "Crows," an aspiring artist enters the world of a painting and encounters Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese). Many of the films in this inventive movie are tied together by an environmental theme.

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Critics Consensus

This late-career anthology by Akira Kurosawa often confirms that Dreams are more interesting to the dreamer than their audience, but the directorial master still delivers opulent visions with a generous dose of heart.

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Mark Le Fanu

Sight & Sound

01/16/2020

For all its expensive production values, simplicity of emotion seems to be the keynote -- as it was in Shakespeare's last plays.

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Terrence Rafferty

The New Yorker

03/04/2013

There's greatness in the film's first hour.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

02/09/2007

In the uneven career of Akira Kurosawa, two limiting factors were sentimentality and preachiness, and both come to the fore in this 1990 collection of eight dreams.

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Bill DuPre

News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

10/18/2023

3.5/4

The technique... allows the images to rattle through the viewer's mind like a transcendent line of poetry; these images are so intense and stay on the screen for such a time that the viewer's interpretation of them becomes introspective and personal.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

05/31/2023

3/4

Kurosawa is content to offer a series of fractured musings.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

12/01/2022

Even the exalted defenders of "Dreams" have a hard time justifying this pair of abominable spawn. [Full review in Spanish]

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Amanda P

@AmandaVeranda Aug 14

According to the dvd blurb, I would be "enchanted and enthralled" by something "astonishing beautiful." Instead, I was bored witless by 120 minutes of pointless indulgent tosh, that even the few "pretty" visuals couldn't save.

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Steve C

@RT19610513 Aug 4

Not a fan of these shorts because they often shallow in depth. However, don't get me wrong. Lots of effort is put into set and costume design. It's not a series of obvious low budget shorts of weird dreams

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Sachin E

@sachineldho Apr 25

Rating the dreams of Akria Kurosawa: 1. Sunshine Through the Rain - 3.5/5 2. The Peach Orchard - 3.5/5 3. The Blizzard - 3/5 4. The Tunnel - 2.5/5 5. Crows - 2.5/5 6. Mount Fuji in Red - 2/5 7. The Weeping Demon - 3/5 8. Village of the Watermills - 2.5/5

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V H

@RT45923986 12/28/2024

Drama, suspense, choreography and costume mesmerizing -such beauty in color, character, movement and emotion! Eight vignettes -dreams of Kurosawa’s. All quite different—childhood, guilt, death are but three. Be prepared for a long movie. My only negative is it tends to be somewhat lecturing…could the English translation be one reason?? Highly recommend.

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NICOLE W

@NWOPW 11/22/2023

This movie had amazing visuals and riveting stories. The audience score is accurate, in that if one chooses to watch this movie, there is some self-selection, and one is more likely to rate it higher. And it delivers.

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Desmond B

@RT31839822 05/14/2023

Dreams is a sumptuous, thoughtful, dramatic, film from which I found it hard to look away. Although it is one of Kurosawa's last films, it shows him at the height of his power and creativity, and offers a glimpse into his mind, just as he glimpses the mind of van Gogh. My review is at https://thecannibalguy.com/2023/05/14/dreams-1990/

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Akira Kurosawa

Director

Ishirô Honda

Director

Akira Terao

I

Mitsunori Isaki

'I' as a boy

Martin Scorsese

Vincent Van Gogh

Mitsuko Baishô

Mother of 'I'

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Synopsis

This imaginative Japanese production presents a series of short films by lauded director Akira Kurosawa. In one chapter, a young boy spies on foxes that are holding a wedding ceremony; the following installment features another youth, who witnesses a magical moment in an orchard. In the segment "Crows," an aspiring artist enters the world of a painting and encounters Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese). Many of the films in this inventive movie are tied together by an environmental theme.

Director: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda
Producer: Mike Y. Inoue, Hisao Kurosawa
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Akira Kurosawa USA
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.7M
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround

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