Akira Kurosawa's Dreams [The Criterion Collection] (Blu-ray)

Unfolding in a series of mythic vignettes, this late work by AKIRA KUROSAWA (Seven Samurai, Ran) brings eight of the beloved director’s own night time visions, informed by tales from Japanese folklore, to cinematic life. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s unconscious, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic visions: A young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power-plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of art, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (played by MARTIN SCORSESE), Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams is both a showcase for its maker’s imagination at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance.

Features

Special Edition Features:

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Masaharu Ueda, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• New audio commentary featuring film scholar Stephen Prince
• Making of “Dreams” (1990), a 150-minute documentary shot on-set and directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
• New interview with assistant director Takashi Koizumi
• New interview with production manager Teruyo Nogami
• Kurosawa’s Way (2011), a fifty-minute documentary by director Akira Kurosawa’s long-time translator Catherine Cadou, featuring interviews with filmmakers Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bernardo Bertolucci, Clint Eastwood, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Bong Joonho, Abbas Kiarostami, Hayao Miyazaki, Martin Scorsese, Julie Taymor, Shin’ya Tsukamoto and John Woo
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri and Kurosawa’s script for a never-filmed ninth dream, introduced by Nogami