Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.

This is one of those movies that becomes unforgettable the minute you experience it. It is stunningly beautiful, each segment a perfect example of the great things you can do with a camera if you happen to be born an artist and a film maker, a creative genius, as was Akira Kurosawa. If I were realistically to name all 50 of my favorite films, Kurosawa’s entire filmography would encompass many of the top spots. (Fortunately for all of us, I won’t be doing that any time soon)
The fact that Kurosawa’s work speaks so directly to me I can only assume one of these two things. 1) I am especially blessed to understand the humanity and beauty of his work, and am uniquely able to appreciate it or 2) He is able to tell stories about the human condition that can relate to everyone, anywhere. Since Akira Kurosawa is known as one the greatest directors of all time, I reluctantly admit that I am not special. That honor goes to Akira Kurosawa himself.

To me Kurosawa’s films so easily transcend the barrier of language that the story is perfectly understood even if the nuances of the spoken- out -loud dialog is beyond my comprehension. This movie may be able to show you why this is so. Because Dreams , the least definite, most surreal of all the movies that Kurosawa directed, is the most subjective as well. If you don’t understand the meaning of the segments or dreams , rest assured that you aren’t the only one. Each of them points tantalizingly toward a lesson to be learned. Each object within the dreams could mean so much more, as we explore the allegorical nature of this movie-but only briefly, I promise.

There is little really written on this film, explaining the dreams or the order in which Kurosawa allegedly dreamed them. Are they night time dreams, or waking dreams? I suspect a little of both. More than anything, YUME represents the then 76 year old director’s search for goodness and humanity, and his deeply introspective nature. In presenting these dreams, he teaches us many things- If we have a mind to listen. So rather than present my interpretation of these sequences as “the truth” , let me just tell you what they mean to me.( You will have to watch the film yourself to see whether or not you agree. )

Western film audiences may find this movie hard to view, initially. Looking for a plot? Well there isn’t any, to speak of. Each chapter has a resolution of sorts, but the resolutions do not offer the comfort of explaining the dream or its meaning. Drawing from common symbols in Jungian dream analysis is apt to get you barking up the wrong tree. Because not only is there some standard dream stuff, there is a good deal of Japanese mythology, some historical references which are not strictly biographical, and some Japanese formal theater presentations included. I find it to be fairly far afield from most genre- specific descriptions, and it is more Eastern than Western in nature. It follows instead the format offered for Rashomon, where Kurosawa delivered a message about basic humanity in chapters. Above all, these dreams are allegorical. Kurosawa did not make this film just so we could see the pretty pictures. His art is supposed to mean something.

FILM ELEMENTS

CINEMATOGRAPHY , by Kazutami Hara Is absolutely stunning , using full color in all its glory, each segment with a specific psychological color scheme. There are the wonderful long shots of nature and the landscape that Kurosawa loved, as well as some amazing special effects. When other directors are shutting down at the age of 76 , Kurosawa was opening up to all the new techniques available at the time, and using them masterfully.
This is a film of wonder and beauty, and if you watch it for no other reason, watch it for the camera work.

THE PRODUCTION DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION are attributed to Yoshiro Muraki. The movie itself is a tribute to the effectiveness of his work. He had done several films with Kurosawa before, including Ran and Yojimbo. He has been nominated on three separate occasions for Oscars.

The MUSIC is a blend of some disturbing (to my ear) Japanese music and western motifs, contributed by Shinichiro Ikebe. The western type compositions typically occur when a character is in transition. The sound track is very important in this film, and each segment has some music that is specific to the dream. The sounds of water, in places, boot heels on a paved road, and a mad dog snarling are key critical sounds, most of them magnified beyond what would normally occur. Unoriginal music by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov was used in the “Village” dream.


The SCREENPLAY is attributed to Akira Kurosawa and Ishoro Honda (the two segments with most of the most dialog) The pictures really do set the scene in each sequence. The dialog is fairly sparse, but always important. The characters are important as to what they represent, but there is no single character that really develops, unless it is the audience, as we watch.

The PERFORMANCES are very good, to outstanding. The experiences of the “dreamer” in navigating the segments is the one element that each sequence has in common with every other. But Kurosawa himself is not always represented by the “traveler”. He is occasionally another character within the dream. Do each of the dreams lead to the other? I suspect they do, possibly even representing the journey of a human being to discover what is important in life.

THE DREAMS

In every dream there is a being who is the “guide” in the middle to bridge entry into (and out of) the dream world. Except for the last segment, (and this is debatable) the beings represent a link to the dream world, the border between what is real and what is imagined. Do they represent aspects of a collective unconscious, or are they different personality traits? Again I think they are entirely representative of Kurosawa’s outlook on life, which is feast to the senses and the imagination. They not only show us what we are offered, but reveal our faults. Humanity is alternately punished, and redeemed throughout .

SUNSHINE THROUGH THE RAIN

In this segment a boy about 8 cannot go out to play, because it is raining and the sun is shining . His mother warns him, but he goes anyway, hoping to get a glimpse of something he was warned not to see. He does! But then, he must deal with the consequences.

In Japanese mythology, The “Fox people” are transitional , and only come out when the weather has two contrasting elements, such as sunshine and rain They can be playful, stern and reprimanding, or evil, and occasionally even pass for human. The boy sees a Fox people wedding procession, and he is given only the choice between suicide and begging forgiveness. To me this dream represents curiosity of an intellectual nature. Seeking knowledge opens many doors, (as the entire valley under the rainbow is opened up to the child) but there are consequences. (“You must be prepared to die!)” says “I”’s mother. When he leaves to find the Foxes, he is leaving home and going into an unknown and mysterious world, perhaps just growing up and leaving childhood. He can never return exactly as he left.

THE PEACH ORCHARD

- A child is home with his family celebrating the Peach Blossom Festival. A young boy’s sister has some friends over, and the young boy brings them tea.. He sees a pretty girl that no one else sees, and he follows her outside. He is then confronted with the formally dressed dolls in his sister’s room come to life, as the spirit guardians of the Peach trees. The Peach orchard has been cut down, and the boy is crying. To reward his sensitivity to the loss of the orchard, the guardian dolls allow him to see the orchard blooming briefly.

In standard dream symbolism, an Orchard represents order. The orchard has been carelessly cut down. This represents mistakes made, possibly in our youth, or taking new directions, or possibly and more simply, man taking on some responsibility for what he has done to nature by his own arrogance. It offers hope in a single sapling left blooming on the hillside.

The costumes for the guardians and the “ballet”: that is staged is quite beautiful. The makeup is formal, and the posturing seems like formal Japanese theater, (although I have little real knowledge of the format).

THE BLIZZARD

A team of men are barely visible in a veil of blowing snow. They are in the mountains, and roped together. They cannot see where they are going, and one by one they sink into the cold snow, falling asleep. A snow fairy a appears to the leader, and covers him in snow, suggesting comfort and the warmth of her embrace, as she does so. But then the sun chases her away, and they discover their camp is close by.

The climb is a struggle in life, and adversity . This one becomes, I think, autobiographical in nature. The struggle to climb a mountain, roped to others, is a burden, but a goal is in mind, although not visible. The demon appearing is probably Kurosawa’s own attempted suicide, and it is portrayed seductively. The sun banishes all and the cherished goal reappears. Although there are men chained to the protagonist, the experience is his alone.

THE TUNNEL

A man is walking, traveling on foot , with a rucksack , in a military long coat, and approaches a tunnel. As he enters a barking snarling dog , mad and frothing appears, with a belt and objects strapped to his back. The man enters the tunnel, and comes out the other side, his booted footsteps echoing g in the tunnel. As he turns and faces the way he came, another figure emerges, a soldier named Noguchi. The soldier is disturbed, not knowing for sure that he is dead, and wanting to tell his parents who still wait for him. When “I” explains his death, he turns to go, and then an entire regiment marches out of the tunnel. “I” sends them back into the tunnel, admitting his guilt in causing their deaths. As he turns to go, the dog is back, snapping at his hands and legs.

This dream represents guilt, and is , I think broader in its application than the director himself. Kurosawa was a life-long pacifist, and never was in the military. Yet, humanity , himself included, must do as the character does, and face up to their actions, and confront and beg forgiveness of those injured by the stupidity of war. But it is not enough to send the dead away, back through the tunnel, (to death)-because even after this, the worrisome mad dog of war will be there to attack. This segment is powerful, and not without a moment of humor in the pathos.

CROWS

In this segment, “I” is an artist at a museum, looking at the Van Gogh exhibit. He really gets into the painting, (literally) and meets Van Gogh.

This is that all visual artists will remember, as Kurosawa recreates each brush stroke big enough for our hero to walk over and into. This is a delightful segment, offering Kurosawa’s explanation( which is pretty funny) about Van Gogh cutting off his own ear, and describing with some accuracy the frenzied way in which Van Gogh created his masterpieces.

Kurosawa trained first as a painter, and in this segment, the dreamer is not necessarily the traveler, but Van Gogh himself, who is driven “like a locomotive” to create and produce. I think once you get over laughing, especially when you realize that Van Gogh is Martin Scorsese, you realize that the observer sees the artist mutilate himself when drawing his own portrait, because he couldn’t “get it right”, indicating how self destructive being a perfectionist may be. And the end of this segment is more than a little shocking to the senses, The visions that Van Gogh created were powerful, but rarely peaceful, despite the bucolic nature of the environment in which he worked.

MOUNT FUJI IN RED

“T” appears in a panicked crowed (remember those Godzilla movies?) , and is told at first Mt Fuji is about to erupt as a volcano. But then he discovers instead that behind the mountain, six atomic power planets are exploding one by one. Most of those people throw themselves into the sea to escape. Our hero, with a woman and two small children, await by the shore, as clouds of red wind engulf them, attempting to blow the radiation away by flapping his jacket.

This segment has dialog that offers most of the explanation (as well as the ironies) of the dream segment. The humorous touch is that the radiation is “tagged” by being colored as to its source. As one of the characters says, this is so you can tell what kind kills you, because death is inevitable. This character , the “nuclear technician” is the link to the world the dream embraces.-and I believe he speaks for all of us when he simply says “I’m sorry”, and jumps into the ocean (off camera).

THE WEEPING DEMON

A man is walking again in a barren landscape, clearly the result of a cataclysmic war, or something like it. He sees no people but hears someone crying. He finds it is a demon with a single horn, who describes the “life” left on earth after the nuclear devastation. Radiation twists everything, the only thing growing are giant dandelions and deformed flowers. There is no food. The people left become demons, tormented and feeding on each other, and themselves. The dream ends with the demon, who was passive now taking an active role, turning evil and chasing the “human” in headlong flight down a mountain.

This is the most disturbing and nihilistic of all the dreams,. No dialog would really be necessary to understand this segment. It uses long shots, brilliant contracting colors and all the bells and whistles to create a surrealistic view of how man has survived his own stupidity. The future is a horrible place to imagine.

VILLAGE OF THE WATERMILLS

The traveler comes upon a village on a river. There are watermills everywhere, their wheels turning. There are flowers blooming, and people greet him friendly and courteous. They pick flowers and lay them on a stone. He encounters an old man patching a water wheel, and questions him about the village. The man speaks of quiet simple ways, and people living long lives close to nature. The man leaves the traveler to join a joyful funeral procession.

This is a peaceful way to end this movie, and offers a counterpoint for most of the nihilism that came before it. If that is what you see when you watch it, that would be enough.

For me however, this is the most disturbing and ironic of all the dream segments, because what you see is something that exists for the sole reason of itself, and serves no useful purpose. It points at empty tradition, which may prolong life, but in the end leaves you a life that is obviously the most fun when you leave it, as the funeral is celebrated with great revelry.
The watermills although beautiful, merely turn. The laying of flowers on the stone is a lovely but empty gesture. It is a routine that is followed. No one (but the old man) knows why it started, nor questions it. Perhaps the most upsetting bit of dialog also occurs, when the traveler asks about the villagers “. They live other places. “ Is this the transitional place between life and death? Or heaven where no one lives? My favorite musical sequence in the movie occurs here with the funeral procession which ends the film.

THE CAST

Akira Terao is the “I” of the dreaming. A fairly ordinary but expressive face , whose personality changes with the scenes. He is very very good, but alas, not Toshiro Mifune.
He was also in Ran, in 1985

Mitsunori Isaki as “I” as a boy. This is the second little boy (I think) and he has a serious and disturbed appearance, as he weeps (not convincingly at first) over the loss of the orchard. The expression on his face belies his sense of wonderment. Nicely done.

Toshihiko Nakano as “I” as a young child. This is a very young child, whose look of consternation is an intelligent, stubborn and curious countenance. I liked this little guy. He is an empathetic little dude.

Yosh*taka Zushi as Pvt Noguchi-This character is my favorite single character in the film, as the wistful soldier who wants desperately just to go home. He is funny, pathetic and ultimately sad, in “dead” makeup, which is not horrific in appearance, merely ghostly. His face is full of longing as he looks toward the light of a home in the valley, where his parents wait for him.

Mieko Harada as The Snow Fairy-a beautiful very Japanese face, she alternates between being seductive and shrill and threatening. Quite eerie and effective in this dream sequence.

Hisahi Igawa as Nuclear Plant worker. This is the guy in a suit, who explains what has happened in the Mt Fuji sequence. I have seen his face before.

Chosuke Ikariya- this is the most dramatic performance piece in the movie and the weeping demon weeps for the earth and in self pity. At first himself an object of pity, he then transforms, laughing inappropriately, into madness, and finally into blind rage, chasing the human down a steep incline. Very impressive indeed.

Chishu Ryu as the Old Man. This actor started in movies in 1928, with another famous Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu. In fact, he was in most of Ozu’s movies until the director’s death, and then went to work in Yamada’s films, among others. He had played roles in Kurosawa’s films in the sixties as well. He was 86 when he did this film, and his career was far from over.

Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh. This is a fun character, driven, with Scorsese’s New York accent , as he begins to speak English, although the first people the traveler encounters speak French. I enjoyed this performance enormously, although I don’t think it warrants a career change for the director.

Of course there are many more in the cast, but few of them have much to say in these dreams, and not a whole lot seems to be available on the movie data base for them.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

This film is art. It probably won’t appeal to everyone. But if you like a movie that makes you look for answers in the imagery and the space between the lines, Yume should appeal to you.
There are many ways to interpret the dreams, and they are fascinating because there should be something in here for anyone- who shares humanity with Kurosawa.

(Note: I have included other links to reviews of Kurosawa’s films. He made thirty . I still have some work to do. I have never been disappointed seeing a Kurosawa flick. Kurosawa died of a stroke in September, 1998. It is our loss. )


http://www.epinions.com/content_74526461572 (RED BEARD)

http://www.epinions.com/content_72450608772 (THE HIDDEN FORTRESS)

http://www.epinions.com/content_43508797060 (SANJURO)

http://www.epinions.com/content_42331049604 (DERSU UZALA)

http://www.epinions.com/content_34015383172 (YOJIMBO)

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-301A-15F4AD73-3A115E1C-prod2 (SEVEN SAMURAI)


http://www.epinions.com/content_72338607748 (RASHOMON)

http://www.epinions.com/content_72587316868 (HEAVEN AND HELL)




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age