WEIRD FILMS
Dreams PG
Japan/USA | 1990 119 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Akira Kurosawa
STARRING
Akira Terao|Mitsunori Isaki|Martin Scorsese
10 February 2025 MONDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (under 26) CONCESSION NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE
Dreams is mesmeric, challenging, thought-provoking and above all unique. It’s one of the final films, and a departure from his archetypal Samurai epics, of the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. In a contemplative and extremely personal project, he presents an anthology of eight wildly differing dreams he was plagued with throughout his life. The film is made utterly memorable through stunningly beautiful imagery, inescapable depth of meaning and an unrivalled tenacity of vision. Admirably, the film never feels like just an over-complicated vanity project: instead, it’s journey through the mind of an off-duty genius, accessible to all, but with an impact most profound. Spanning an array of themes from death, guilt, spirituality and fear, to more particular subjects like environmentalism, nuclear fallout and evolutionary pollution, the vignettes, for the most part, come across as mystical folk tales of old, each with their own meanings to uncover.
Although the screenplay was penned entirely by Kurosawa, getting the film made was a collaborative effort. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were instrumental in bringing the vision to life, and Martin Scorsese, who cites Kurosawa as 'my master', makes a cameo appearance.
Films like Dreams come along only once every few years. They are so elemental that they echo through the generations and are capable of transcending linguistic, economic and geographical barriers. To show this to a stranger from another world, would be to show off the best of the human race's artistic nature. Needless to say, Akira Kurosawa's legacy was secure long before Dreams, but this is more than deserving of a place in his highlight reel.