Yesterday, my father and I watched Akira Kurosawa's film 'Dreams'. Usually I'm not one to like movies, or going to the cinema, because I almost always end up feeling like I have waisted precious time, specially when I start early and finish it at noon. But I liked it a lot - it was certainly very different from any western modern media taht we see being popular today - it was more like Miyazaki's pieces, in the way that explored themes like Japanese mythology, nature, war and art. I think my favorite moments were:

"Sunshine Through the Rain" we do not know if the boy received the kitsune's forgivness or if he had to commit suicide. I think that the fact that the mother kicked him out of the house made it seem, at the same time, more realistic and more fantastical.


"The Peach Orchard" also stood out to me because I've been reading works regarding japanese tree yoikai, so it was very cool to see how they would look visually, without descriptions.


"The Blizzard" was a brilliant move and carefully crafted. The way the sounds of harsh breathing drag longer than you'd expect and the visual impairement makes you feel uneasy, unlike modern day filming who focuses on the actors more than in the nature of the scene. It's like you are there with them, and the despair seems to choke you from the screen. I was surprised by the happy ending, but as Kurosawa said before: "Even in tragic stories, there should be some happy parts."


"The Tunnel" was one of those media moments that nests in your heart for you to remember for a long while. The way the soldier wanted to go back home, the dog with the weaponry, the revelation that only the commander survived from a huge platoon, when he cries, whising he could have gone with them...it was very unsettling.


I loved"Crows", and I guess Van Gogh would have love it too. It was a beautiful show of surrealism and impressionist art. When he entered the first frame I was spechlees by the dedication put on having the setting to be so perfect, I felt I was inside them too!


"Mount Fuji in Red" was that type of dream you get in the night when you wake up from a nightmare with sweat all over your body - like when imagining a zombie apocalise. I think the worst part is the truthfulness of it, and the way they had to abide their deaths, beacuse there was no fight to battle over - the enemy had alredy won.


"The Weeping Demon" show us the aftermath of the last dream, and the future that await us. The way society hierarchy still has its power even during the end of times was a topic that stuck with me - demons with 2 or 3 horns were on the top of the food chain, and were important people while humans, that is why they eat the weak and lower demons.


Admist all of this suffering, "Village of the Watermills" gives us hope. If we can work towards embracing nature again, perhaps what happened during the previous nightmares won't befall on us. All throughout the movie I felt that Kurosawa captured exactly the reality of a dream, - the boldness you get from being asleep, the fear of it being real, the calm and acceptance that drugs your body... At least it's how I saw it.

People go on about how hard life is, but that’s just a lot of talk. Honestly, it’s good to be alive. It’s quite exciting. -
Dreams, 1990 dir. by Akira Kurosawa