DREAMS (DVD/AKIRA KUROSAWAS/WS/ENG-FR-JAP-KOR-POR-SP-HAI-MAND-TAI-SUB) DVD

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Following up on his critically acclaimed, blood-splattered epic Ran, master director Akira Kurosawa looks inward with this collection of eight brightly colored dreams. The first section centers on a young boy (Mitsunori Izaki), who witnesses a forest wedding procession of fox spirits in spite of his mother's (Mitsuko Baisho) warning. The second section concerns the same lad who converses with peach-tree spirits after the trees have been cruelly cut down. This is followed by a party of mountain climbers struggling to make it back to base camp in the midst of a terrible blizzard. The fourth dream deals with a man (Akira Terao) -- a Kurosawa stand-in complete with the director's trademark floppy white hat -- who encounters ghosts of Japan's militaristic past in a forlorn tunnel. In the following dream, the same man ventures into a Van Gogh painting called The Crows and meets the artist himself (Martin Scorsese). The sixth and seventh dreams venture into nightmare territory -- one deals with a nuclear meltdown that threatens Japan while the other concerns post-nuclear mutants. In the final dream, Kurosawa meets a 103-year-old man (played by Ozu regular Chishu Ryu) in a utopian rural village. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Cast Akira Terao as "I" Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh [Crows] Mitsunori Isaki as "I" as a Boy [The Peach Orchard] Chishu Ryu as 103-year-old Man [Village Of The Watermills] Mieko Harada as The Snow Fairy [The Blizzard] Yoshitaka Zushi as Pvt. Noguchi [The Tunnel] Mitsuko Baisho as Mother of "I" [Sunshine Through The Rain] Chosuke Ikariya as The Demon [The Weeping Demon] Hisashi Igawa as Power Station Worker [Mt. Fuji In Red] Toshihiko Nakano as "I" as a Young Child [Sunshine Through The Rain]

Crew Akira Sakuragi - Art Director Yoshiro Muraki - Art Director Seikichi Iizumi - Associate Producer Michiyo Hata - Choreography Hisao Kurosawa - Co-producer Mike Y. Inoue - Co-producer Emi Wada - Costume Designer Akira Kurosawa - Director Tome Minami - Editor Shinichiro Ikebe - Composer (Music Score) Shoshichiro Ueda - Makeup Norio Sano - Makeup Tameyuki Aimi - Makeup Shinobu Muraki - Production Designer Masaharu Ueda - Cinematographer Takao Saito - Cinematographer Koichi Hamamura - Set Designer Industrial Light & Magic - Special Effects Akira Kurosawa - Screenwriter

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
(not reviewed)
 

Golden Globe, Best Foreign Language Film (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: Japanese Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish, Por, Japanese Sound Processing: DDS: Dolby Digital Surround Additional Features: cc Interactive menus Director film highlights Scene access Languages: Japanese Subtitles: English, Français, Español, Portugués, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, & Korean DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: PG DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 120 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Credits [2:00] 2. Sunshine Through the Rain: A Warning [1:26] 3. Sunshine Through the Rain: Foxes Procession [5:24] 4. Sunshine Through the Rain: "They Don't Usually Forgive" [2:50] 5. Sunshine Through the Rain: Along the Rainbow [1:05] 6. The Peach Orchid: Mysterious Girl [2:41] 7. The Peach Orchid: Spirits of the Trees [3:19] 8. The Peach Orchid: Dance of the Dolls [4:38] 9. The Peach Orchid: A Reminder [2:14] 10. The Blizzard: Weary Climbers [5:32] 11. The Blizzard: Storm Rages [4:58] 12. The Blizzard: Snow Fairy [4:28] 13. The Blizzard: Storm Subsides [4:01] 14. The Tunnel: Snarling Sentinel [4:06] 15. The Tunnel: Private Noguchi [5:57] 16. The Tunnel: Commander's Address [7:37] 17. The Tunnel: Sentinel Returns [:34] 18. Crows: Into the Canvas [3:44] 19. Crows: Vincent Van Gogh [3:33] 20. Crows: Artist's Journey [2:01] 21. Crows: Taking Wing [:56] 22. Mount Fuji in Red: Cataclysm [2:33] 23. Mount Fuji in Red: Death's Calling Card [5:06] 24. The Weeping Demon: Horned Demon [5:09] 25. The Weeping Demon: Floral Mutations [8:23] 26. The Weeping Demon: Valley of Torment [3:55] 27. Village of the Watermills: Arrival in the Village [1:42] 28. Village of the Watermills: Old Man [6:37] 29. Village of the Watermills: Funeral Procession [6:50] 30. Village of the Watermills: Gift From Nature [1:50] 31. End Credits [4:06]