Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

Screening on Film

Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
With Chishu Ryu, Mieko Harada, Mitsuko Naisho.
Japan/US, 1990, 35mm, color, 119 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.

The eight episodes of this lyrical, painterly film depict a number of dreams that are vaguely intended to reflect the life and abiding obsessions of its director. Moving from childhood through war to the terror of nuclear pollution, each of the episodes—which, taken together, represent the director’s multi-faceted style—dazzles through its use of color and superbly wrought mise-en-scène rather than through dialogue or structure. In these stories of spirits, both ancient and modern, Kurosawa takes care to hint at his meanings rather than make them overtly manifest.