Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (Criterion Collection)

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 it's maker's imagination at it's most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance.