esrosedotblog

DREAMS

Today's Movie; NYTimes1000Best; actually AKIRA KUROSAWA DREAMS(1990). Nine short films which are thematically connected although we do not see that until about midway. Gorgeous. Slightly polemic; but not in a turnoff way. There are a few 'DREAMS' which are just gasp producing. There is one based on paintings of VanGogh that is just amazing. I will rate it as a 4 on the NetFlix5 scale.

This film is an outstanding example of why my 1000Best Film scheme is working for me. I would never ever rent this film. I am not sure that I even knew about it. Of course, Kurosawa is one of the world's great directors. I know that. SEVEN SAMURAI and so on (which we will see later on). But to delve into his films or even have a clue as to what was good, better, or best, is not in the 'picture' for me; so to speak. Examining the list of 1000Best, reveals about 50% that I would not know or think about getting. Some I would not bother with. And so it is a good project. There have been very few clinkers so far.

Another benefit for me would be to make a note to see more of this man's work; to study some about his career which I have done with a lot of the actors and directors of films that we have seen so far. I know this all sounds sort of 'Europe in 8 Days' or 'Great Musical Themes'; a sort of middle brow self improvement device; but I don't have a lot of time or the patience to wade through the Netflix archives or stand in the aisles of a rental shop and twaddle around. This gives me direction and actually, unlike the 'greatest musical themes' these are high quality and inventive listings.

I also like the juxtapositions of the arbitrary queuing system. I am starting with the numbers [10(1979), 400 BLOWS(1959)], then A's [A NOUS LA LIBERTE(1932)] (although Akira is kind of stretching it) and working my way through to zee [ZERO FOR CONDUCT(1933)]. This sequence or "A's" has us seeing AIRPLANE yesterday, DREAMS today, and ALICE'S RESTAURANT next. How eclectic can you get? Incidentally of the seven films listed in the last two sentences, I saw only two in the original, never heard of three and saw missed or dismissed two. QED.