Dreams (1990)

Dreams (1990) is a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The movie comprises eight parts, each with its own seperate story.

The first dream, Sunshine Through the Rain, shows a little boy witnessing a mysterious wedding ceremony of foxes in the woods. This sacred event is forbidden for humans and the boy's mother notifies him that he will probably be killed unless the foxes decide to be merciful after the boy begs for forgiveness. The story ends with the little boy walking in a field towards the a rainbow, which is the location of these beings.

I thought this first story used great cinematography. The setting of the forest where the ceremony was held and the field of flowers with the rainbow in the sky and the mountains in the background provided beautiful backdrops and landscapes to observe. The choreography of the wedding ceremony was also interesting to watch, as well as the costumes they wore. This first story was very visually entertaining.

The point of the story is very basic, too. Each segment of Dreams comes with a message about how humans should and how they do treat nature - whether it's the atmosphere, plant-life, wildlife, or themselves. The message of this story is not to tamper with nature.

The second dream, The Peach Orchard, begins with a boy seeing an imaginary girl. He chases after her and she leads him to an empty hill which used to be a peach orchard. The boy is confronted by dolls, who are like the gods of the peach trees which used to occupy the hill. They scold him for his family cutting down all the peach trees, but the boy is forgiven when they discover that it was not his fault and that he is truly sad that the peach trees are gone.

This story used very beautiful costumes. The spirits of the peach trees all had very colorful and intricate costumes on which were stunning to see. To add to the effect, they also performed a very intriguing and symmetrical dance which brought all the peach trees back. The little boy also did a good job acting and was very convincing with his emotions. This story sends another message to not mess with nature and to cherish the trees and plantlife that we have.

The third dream, The Blizzard, was skipped in class.

The fourth dream, The Tunnel, began with an army commander walking towards a giant tunnel. An angry dogs comes out and towards the commander, barking at him ferociously. The commander hesitantly walks past the dog and continues on through the tunnel. On the other end, he is confronted by a dead soldier who is confused about whether or not he is dead. The commander convinces the soldier he is dead and sends him back into the tunnel to be at peace. Shortly afterwards, a whole platoon marches out of the tunnel and confronts the commander about the same thing. The commander is terrified and stricken with guilt. Eventually, he takes partial blame for their deaths and sends them back into the tunnel. The dog comes back out in the end and barks at the commander again.

This dream had a much eerier feel to it than the first two. The first two dreams were visually pleasant, but the shades and tones of this fourth dream were much darker. The lighting, make-up, and setting of this setting fit the story perfectly. Obviously, the message to this one is that war is a horrible thing and nothing good comes from it. The only thing that comes out of war is death and, in the end, nobody wins.

The fifth dream, Crows, was another visually stunning part. It begins with a man looking at works of art in a museum or art gallery. All of a sudden, he enters one and begins his search for Vincent Van Gogh. Each work of art he traveled through provided such rich and colorful scenery. In the middle, he find Van Gogh, played by Martin Scorcese, painting in a field. Van Gogh blabs on about painting and escapes the man. The man walks through several more paintings before the story ends.

The sixth dream, Mount Fuji in Red, is complete chaos. Mount Fuji is erupting and nuclear power plants are exploding all over the place. Everyone is panicking and there is disaster everywhere. The story then moves to a cliff of a shore where there are only a few people left. One of them is a corporate business man at one of the power plants who explains about all the different colored toxic fumes and what they will do to you. He then talks about how stupid it was for men to mess around with such dangerous chemicals and how he feels guilty for taking part in such careless matters.

The seventh dream, The Weeping Demon, takes place in a barren wasteland. A man is walking though and comes across a demon. The demon explains that the planet is nothing but a waste after all the bombs, missiles, and chemicals created by men has destroyed it. No one is to blame but themselves as it is the result of mankind's pollution and use of toxins. There is a crowd of demons there who live in eternity for their sins and the pain they have caused. This is like a continuation of the last segment, which continues on about humans taking responsibility for their pollution and other hazardous material to the planet.

The eighth and final dream, Village of the Watermills, leaves the movie on a happier note. Just like the first two stories and the one in the middle titled Crows, this final segment takes place during the day with lots of nature present. A man is walking through a quiet, peaceful village with lots of beautiful scenery and green grass everywhere. He comes across an old man with whom he has a conversation. The old man talks about how everyone in the village lives a very natural way of life. They do not use electricty or any more of anything that they need. Everything they use is all out of necessity and they keep their polluting and negative effect on the environment to a minimum. The lesson of this story was more of an accumulation of all the messages of all the stories of the movie put together. I actually enjoyed Village of the Watermills the most and I liked many of the quotes the old man used very much.

All in all, Dreams was a very enjoyable and positive way-of-life teaching movie. I agree with and appreciate all the messages the movie had to offer. The cinematography in this movie, in each segment, was excellent. The costumes were very well-done and fitting to each story. Dreams is a movie that I would like to and will share with and spread to other people.