Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray edition of "Akira Kurasawa's Dreams" boasts a slate of extras that will take you into the master filmmaker's vision with unprecedented depth.

Kurasawa released "Dreams" in 1990, surprising those who had assumed that "Ran," the 80-year-old filmmaker's 1985 take on "King Lear," would be his swan song. Comprised of eight episodes of about 15 minutes each, "Dreams" roughly traces a life, beginning with a tale of a young boy who encounters a wedding procession of foxes in human form (and then has to pay a price for it) and journeying through fantastical visions in which men struggle against loss and death, with the specters of nuclear warfare and environmental degradation as recurring themes.

Kurosawa claimed these vignettes were based on dreams he'd had throughout his life, but as film scholar Stephen Prince explains in the must-hear audio commentary track, the "dreams" referenced Japanese lore and religious myth, and hewed to a naturalistic style (even if the set designs were deliberately artificial or idealized). Prince sounds as though he's reading from a script -- and sometimes he doesn't do it that well -- but his insights and expert analysis unpack the film's cultural referents and technical brilliance.

Not all of the extras here are as mesmerizing as Prince's commentary, or the film itself, with its gorgeous compositions and eye popping color palettes, but the wealth of information and insight provided by the special features are a film buff's dream. There's a two-and-a-half-hour-long documentary -- culled from 190 hours of footage -- that goes behind the scenes of the film's production, detailing everything about the production and including interviews with Kurosawa; another documentary features a number of influential directors discussing Kurosawa's work and its importance; and there are two interviews with members of the film's production staff, including assistant director Takashi Koizumi and production manager Teruyo Nogami.

The Blu-ray also includes a thick booklet that contains an essay written by Village Voice writer and filmmaker Bilge Ebiri. The booklet also contains the script for an unfilled ninth dream that didn't make it into the movie.

If the extras are not a primary selling point for you, rest assured that the Blu-ray is well worth the price. The restoration and 4K transfer service this stunning movie; the sound, as Prince notes in his audio commentary, is also clean and nuanced, the result of then-cutting edge improvements to cinematic analog audio. (Kurosawa was as conscious of the role sound plays in movies as he was of the visuals at which he was so adept.)

Seen it before? In all likelihood, not like this. Never seen it? You need to. This is a disc to add to your core collection.

"Akira Kurasawa's Dreams"
Blu-ray
$31.96
https://www.criterion.com/films/28700-akira-kurosawa-s-dreams