Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

Kurosawa is one of the greatest legends in the cinema, and certainly the most recognized Japanese director in the Western world. Dreams is an apt culmination of 50 years of work in the movies. It's a pastiche of eight separate dream segments connected only by their recurring central character known as 'I,' usually played by Terao. It's contemplative, diverse, and, hell, even self-indulgent. Some of the sequences work better than others. The first two are practically magical, involving the 'I' as a child. In 'The Blizzard' the now-grown 'I,' along with three other mountain climbers, fall asleep in the snow. It's dominated by the sound of their strained, raspy breath and the sight of the obliterating, white snow flurries. Next, 'I' returns from the war - the only survivor - and meets his plaintive dead troops on the other side of a tunnel. Director Martin Scorsese plays Vincent Van Gogh in an almost comic segment in which 'I' wanders in and out of the artist's paintings. Nuclear holocaust is portrayed in 'Mount Fuji in Red,' which resembles nothing so much as a Japanese disaster movie. "I" next encounters a demon in a bizarre end-of-the-world scenario in which former government officials and millionaires suffer unmitigating agonies. The final dream is a long, ethereal dialogue that reconciles humanity's unity with nature. The dreams all stand on their own, yet flow into each other with connective ease. They're often slow and inconclusive. Yet they're often breathtaking and magical. It is a satisfying summation of a well-spent career. (Originally ran 10/5/90)