SnoopyStyle This is supposedly the dreams of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It's a series of vignettes of surreal segments. I wouldn't even call them stories. They don't necessarily have a narrative. The most intriguing are the various visual concepts.In Sunshine Through The Rain, a boy disobeys his mother and goes into forest where he sees a procession. The procession is fascinating. It's the first moment where I thought his movie would be so much more compelling animated. It reminded me a bit of Spirited Away. I don't know what to take from the woman telling the boy to commit Seppuku. It points to the surreal non-sensible aspect of these vignettes. Each one of these vignettes provides a visual motif but the story cannot be followed like a regular narrative. This is an interesting visual exercise but not a compelling story-telling film.

tassos-79995 I borrowed the DVD of "Dreams" from my public library and saw it two days ago, then liked it so much I saw it again yesterday evening.What a Great Movie. It is rare that I like the DvDs I borrow, most of them are a pain to watch, Hollywood movies in particular, while their actors are professional and polished, the scripts are usually crap, 9 out of 10. I liked all 8 sketches, but some more than others. Great Cinematography.My favorite should have been the Van Gogh sketch, being my favorite painter and all, but Scorcese as Van Gogh did not inspire me.I best liked the last dream, the 'joyous' funeral procession in the village of the watermills. I could see it again and again.I wish Kurosawa had made a commentary or interview they included in the DVD with his thoughts on that and the other sketches.

wwcorigan Great movie, Amazon spoiler: wanted to buy it and found that only way to buy it is to use it on a kindle. I don't want a kindle! I don't want kindle software on my computer! I thought I was buying a CD that would play on *my computer. And I agree 10 bucks is a fair price for the CD. But oh no, to find out about the kindle, you have to buy the CD. There is no returning the Kindle software. I figure, if Amazon is that hard up for 10 bucks, sucks, maybe they deserve it! Plus, they want ten lines about Amazon service. Well OK, Amazon has been good over the years. Until this time I've never had a problem with them. They, or there partners have simply taken my money and provided me with a product. Seems fair. Eventually Amazon does not feel this is a fair, although you can buy this particular CD anywhere for 10 bucks. Why Amazon feels that what I watch needed to be part of Kindle world; and I why I to pay to be part of the data base is somewhat amazing.

smiles_poop Of the few Kurosawa films i've so far seen, Dreams is the first one in color. Concerning the images on screen this film is beautiful. Kurosawa could truly make his films look like paintings. In a time where idiot reviewers can call 'The A-Team' poetry in motion, this film and other masterpieces will forever be underrated. Funnily enough, of all the films I've seen, I would relate this to a slightly inferior 2001. The reason is the scant dialogue and brutally slow moving scenes. This is one of the reasons I am not the ultimate Space Odyssey fan, because you really have to be in the right interprative mood. This is also what Dreams suffers and thrives from, a snail's pace.There are pros and cons to each 'Dream' and I will mention each. When talking about slow pace, the one that suffers the most is 'The Blizzard'. This section, while entertaining, is the simplest of stories, and it drags on for too long. Although I'm contradicting myself,some Dreams are too talky- mostly 'the Tunnel', 'Village Of The Watermills',and 'the Weeping Demon' (in my opinion the weakest of the sections) in which half the dream seems to be comprised of a shot of a character talking in a very obvious way about some thematic statement. 'Sunshine Through The Rain' and 'The Peach Orchard' seem to end far too abruptly with most of the Dream being a Kabuki-esquire dance sequence. 'Mount Fuji in Red' is a scathing rant at all things Nuclear and in it's 2 scenes happens to have one of the films highlights and low points. Scene one of the Dream is a really scary Godzilla meets An Inconveniant Truith section that is ironic and unsettling. Part 2 is an overacted, preachy and talkative killer of momentum. Overall my second best.In my humble opinion, the best dream is 'Crows' because it combines the best use of cinematography and weaves it into the story, as well as blending silence with dialogue. This is the only Dream that isn't too preachy or too slow and is perhaps one of the most visceral things Kurosawa has done. The final sequence that has something to do with crows (no spoilers) took me completely by surprise and sent a chill down my spine. Capturing the surreal, enchanting and slightly unsettling feeling of Dreaming.I know I've taken a few hits at this film but thats only because it's not perfect. It's certainly not Kurosawa's best (in my Opinion that's Rashomon) but the truith is that it's cinematically ingenious. In a world where banal stupidity thrives (cough TRANSFORMERS cough)and gets a fair amount of undeserved praise, on Rotten Tomatoes this film currently gets a 53%! That makes me angry! Watch this movie and see what you think...