So I know I promised you guys an article on the delicious fast food joints in Japan (ok, I technically didn’t promise), but I think I’m going to wait till sometime during my trip to blog about that so I can post awesome photos, sounds, and maybe even a movie or two. Just like it seems with everything else in Japan, the Japanese take their fast food seriously, so I should probably make a seriously awesome entry about fast food in Japan. Mmm, just thinking about it makes me want to…keep on not eating American fast food… Not to criticize those who do, at all. I just tend to prefer something in the middle of fast food and slow food… Medium Food?…

Anyway, I would like to talk about a particular movie that was probably my first accurate depiction of Japanese culture. It’s been praised by movie critics and casual viewers alike, and, while it requires a degree of patience and critical thinking that’s not normally seen in many mainstream movies today, it’s undeniably brilliant on many levels. This movie is called Dreams by director and writer Akira Kurosawa. 

I think there are few things more beautiful than seeing a person truly find their dreams and chase them.Akira Kurosawa, the famed director, has not only successfully – though, many artists don’t believe in success because they believe that art is simply the striving for the never attainable state of perfection – chased his dream of becoming a director, but has used actual nighttime dreams of his as the foundation for what I found to be a masterfully constructed movie…Though, I’d rather use the term symphony to describe  Dreams since Dude, Where’s My Car? and American Pie are also referred to as movies.

I didn’t understand this at the time when I first saw the film, and I don’t fully claim to understand it now, but the Japanese people that I’ve met have had this “connected” quality during interaction that just feels, well…connected, like there’s no wall in between. Of course, the opposite is probably true, too… But, like most relations, how people act toward each other depends on the social level of the relators. This is supposedly even more true in Japan, for example, there are about 6 different levels of politeness in the Japanese language, depending on who you’re talking to, the situation, etc…But Buddhism (Zen, plus other forms) and Shintoism, the two primary religions in Japan, have an obvious effect in this movie, both implicitly and explicitly. In Zen, clarity of visual perception and perception in general is an important concept, and in Dreams, Akira Kurosawa allows us to see into what might be interpreted as his joys, fears, and perhaps even a look into his past. 

Dreams is comprised of 8 vignettes, or dreams (running time: 120 minutes.) Throughout the film, the protagonist is the glue that provides cohesiveness to the, otherwise, very contrasting dreams. The protagonist (no name is ever provided, though we can probably safely assume it’s Akira Kurosawa) is a young child in the first and second dream. From then on, he takes the persona of a middle-aged man, and is naturally involved in some more harsh conditions (for example, you wouldn’t see a seven-year old child participate in a long mountain-hiking expedition with potentially lethal conditions.) I won’t attempt to individually describe each dream, because, as I hinted at earlier, Dreams is more similar to walking through a beautiful art gallery with moving pictures than it is a movie. But I will inform those of you that haven’t seen the film that Dreams contains themes that are very culturally integrated parts of Japan. For example, there are fears of nuclear capability and the unknowns of its effects. There are references to Shinto symbols and ideals. For example, the power  and magic of the natural world – water, trees,  mountains- is an obvious theme throughout. 

The only criticism I have with Dreams is the music. I hope this doesn’t affect your opinion  if you’re going to watch it for your first time; I found traditional music quite appropriate, but there were times in which Western music entered the score, and it seemed completely inappropriate. Perhaps the composer had a reason for this – I’m not sure. But on occasion it definitely disturbed a nice harmonious glue that kept the dreams together throughout.

There are, of course, many other movies that Akira Kurosawa have published and many films by other Japanese directors that are definitely worth checking out. Seven Samurai is a black+white Kurosawa classic. Also, I recently watched Audition by Takashi Miike. You may wish to save this one for next halloween… At least, it’s probably not a movie you should rent to bring to your grandmas house to watch this christmas.

Please shoot me an e-mail or post a comment on some movies you recommend~