Dreams by Akira Kurosawa

Today in class we saw a film by Akira Kurosawa called "Dreams". "Dreams" is perhaps Kurosawa's most beautiful film...fantastic locations,interesting costuming and gorgeous cinematography. The movie consists of eight short stories. Most of which center around the issue of people's relationships whth other elements that make up this world that we live in. The first titled "Sunshine Through The Rain": a young boy is told not to go out on the day when both weather conditions occur,because that's when the foxes hold their weedding procession, which could have fatal consequences for those who witness it. This is the first in a series of eight short dreams that seem to be dealing with various elements of death. In the first movie, there is a choice between death or asking forgiveness. The next segment "The Peach Orchard": the same young boy encounters the spirits of the peach trees that have been cut down by heartlee humans. As a child cries over the loss of the peach blossoms he says: "peaches can be bought, but where can you buy a whole orchard of blossoms"? The firat two films contain magical elements surprise and delight the inner child. The third part "The Blizzard": a team of mountaineers are saved from a blizzard by spiritual intervention. The Blizzard and Avalanche will try your patience at first, but as with many of the films, your patience is well rewarded. Just as we are losing hope. Expect the unexpected in this section. "The Tunnel": a men encounters the ghosts of an army platoon,whose deaths he was responsible for.
The Tunnel brings us to the concept of fearing the unknown or not accepting our death. One of my favorite sections is "Crow's": an art student encounters 'Vincent Van Gogh' and enters the world of his paintings. Crows is much more about visual delight and a surprising ending. "Mount Fuji in Red": nuclear meltdown threatens the devastation of Japan. "The weeping Demon" a portrait of a post-nuclear world populated by human mutations. "Village of the Watermills": a sunny portrait of a village whose population is entirely at one with nature. "mount Fuji in Red" and "The Weeping Demon" are both fantastical cautionary tales about the hazards of nuclear power. Finally the gentle "village of the watermills" brings the film to a quiet, pastoral end. Kurosawa uses childhood memories Japanese traditions, and his own moral views to construct a loosely-connected series of episodes rich in visual imagery. Overall Akira Kurosawa's Dreams is a great movie, it may not be a masterpiece but the enormous amount of artistic contentinvolved, the message which Akira Kurosawa tries to convey to the audience, the visual vibrancy, the Cinematography, the small characters makes Dreams a great film to me. If you have an artistic and like to see how movies can become art, I woukd highly recommend "Dreams"


Adjectives:
Fantastic: Infml extremely good; wonderful.
Traditional: Of or in accordance with tradition.
Nuclear: concerning, or using NUCLEAR ENERGY.