Dreams

DREAMS is a mixed bag from one of the Old Masters of world cinema. On the one hand, it overflows with heavy-handed messages on topics ranging from ecology to pacifism as it scolds the audience for their wanton ways. On the other, it's a glorious triumph of style over content. DREAMS springs from the side of Kurosawa that produced IKIRU, DODES'KA-DEN, and other intimate dramas films with which American audiences are less familiar and which lack the presence of Toshiro Mifune or samurai swordplay.

Beginning with a wedding that looks more like a funeral and ending with a funeral that seems more like a wedding, DREAMS is made up of eight vignettes, thematically unit...