Akira Kurosawas Dreams (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Unfolding in a series of mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Ran) brings eight of the beloved director s own nighttime visions, informed by tales from Japanese folklore, to cinematic life. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master s unconscious, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic visions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power-plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of art, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (played by Martin Scorsese), Akira Kurosawa s Dreams is both a showcase for its maker s imagination at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Masaharu Ueda, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring film scholar Stephen Prince
- Making of Dreams (1990), a 150-minute documentary shot on-set and directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
- New interview with assistant director Takashi Koizumi
- New interview with production manager Teruyo Nogami
- Kurosawa s Way (2011), a fifty-minute documentary by director Akira Kurosawa s longtime translator Catherine Cadou, featuring interviews with filmmakers Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bernardo Bertolucci, Clint Eastwood, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Bong Joon-ho, Abbas Kiarostami, Hayao Miyazaki, Martin Scorsese, Julie Taymor, Shin ya Tsukamoto, and John Woo
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri and Kurosawa s script for a never-filmed ninth dream, introduced by Nogami