Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

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Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

PG

1990

1h 59m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

30 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

This imaginative Japanese production presents a series of short films by lauded director Akira Kurosawa. In one chapter, a young boy spies on foxes that are holding a wedding ceremony; the following installment features another youth, who witnesses a magical moment in an orchard. In the segment "Crows," an aspiring artist enters the world of a painting and encounters Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese). Many of the films in this inventive movie are tied together by an environmental theme.

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Critics Consensus

This late-career anthology by Akira Kurosawa often confirms that Dreams are more interesting to the dreamer than their audience, but the directorial master still delivers opulent visions with a generous dose of heart.

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Mark Le Fanu

Sight & Sound

Jan 16, 2020

For all its expensive production values, simplicity of emotion seems to be the keynote -- as it was in Shakespeare's last plays.

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Terrence Rafferty

The New Yorker

Mar 4, 2013

There's greatness in the film's first hour.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Feb 9, 2007

In the uneven career of Akira Kurosawa, two limiting factors were sentimentality and preachiness, and both come to the fore in this 1990 collection of eight dreams.

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Bill DuPre

News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

Oct 18, 2023

3.5/4

The technique... allows the images to rattle through the viewer's mind like a transcendent line of poetry; these images are so intense and stay on the screen for such a time that the viewer's interpretation of them becomes introspective and personal.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

May 31, 2023

3/4

Kurosawa is content to offer a series of fractured musings.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Dec 1, 2022

Even the exalted defenders of "Dreams" have a hard time justifying this pair of abominable spawn. [Full review in Spanish]

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Amanda P

@AmandaVeranda Aug 14, 2026

According to the dvd blurb, I would be "enchanted and enthralled" by something "astonishing beautiful." Instead, I was bored witless by 120 minutes of pointless indulgent tosh, that even the few "pretty" visuals couldn't save.

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Steve C

@RT19610513 Aug 4, 2026

Not a fan of these shorts because they often shallow in depth. However, don't get me wrong. Lots of effort is put into set and costume design. It's not a series of obvious low budget shorts of weird dreams

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Sachin E

@sachineldho Apr 25, 2026

Rating the dreams of Akria Kurosawa: 1. Sunshine Through the Rain - 3.5/5 2. The Peach Orchard - 3.5/5 3. The Blizzard - 3/5 4. The Tunnel - 2.5/5 5. Crows - 2.5/5 6. Mount Fuji in Red - 2/5 7. The Weeping Demon - 3/5 8. Village of the Watermills - 2.5/5

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V H

@RT45923986 Dec 28, 2024

Drama, suspense, choreography and costume mesmerizing -such beauty in color, character, movement and emotion! Eight vignettes -dreams of Kurosawa’s. All quite different—childhood, guilt, death are but three. Be prepared for a long movie. My only negative is it tends to be somewhat lecturing…could the English translation be one reason?? Highly recommend.

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NICOLE W

@NWOPW Nov 22, 2023

This movie had amazing visuals and riveting stories. The audience score is accurate, in that if one chooses to watch this movie, there is some self-selection, and one is more likely to rate it higher. And it delivers.

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Desmond B

@RT31839822 May 14, 2023

Dreams is a sumptuous, thoughtful, dramatic, film from which I found it hard to look away. Although it is one of Kurosawa's last films, it shows him at the height of his power and creativity, and offers a glimpse into his mind, just as he glimpses the mind of van Gogh. My review is at https://thecannibalguy.com/2023/05/14/dreams-1990/

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Akira Kurosawa

Director

Ishirô Honda

Director

Akira Terao

I

Mitsunori Isaki

'I' as a boy

Martin Scorsese

Vincent Van Gogh

Mitsuko Baishô

Mother of 'I'

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Synopsis

This imaginative Japanese production presents a series of short films by lauded director Akira Kurosawa. In one chapter, a young boy spies on foxes that are holding a wedding ceremony; the following installment features another youth, who witnesses a magical moment in an orchard. In the segment "Crows," an aspiring artist enters the world of a painting and encounters Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese). Many of the films in this inventive movie are tied together by an environmental theme.

Director: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda
Producer: Mike Y. Inoue, Hisao Kurosawa
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Akira Kurosawa USA
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.7M
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround

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