(aka "Yume")
Japan 1990
Review by Byung Joo
Dreams is one of the last films directed and written by the late legendary director Akira Kurosawa, who I don’t think needs an introduction. I had been waiting for the film’s release on DVD ever since the upstart of DVD media. The content of the events in Dreams is reported to be the real dreams of Kurosawa himself. And his dreams are very vivid as one would expect from the genius, which almost requires viewing it on a nicely transferred film on DVD. I will not review the movie itself as I am not a movie critic, but following is the graphic and technical review of the DVD itself.
DVD REVIEW: Warner - Japan - Region 2 - NTSC
| DVD Box Front and Back Cover |
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| Click-able Purchase Links |
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| Distribution | Warner - Japan - Region 2 - NTSC |
| Runtime | 1:59:24 minutes |
| Video |
1.78:1.00
Letterboxed WideScreen 16X9 enhanced Bit-rate: 5.55 bps |
| Bitrate:
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Japanese 2.0 Channels |
| Subtitles | English, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Portuguese, Spanish (removable) |
| Features |
The picture transfer on this DVD is just short of spectacular. A dream come true (no pun intended). The images are sharp (although some edge enhancement is noticeable) and the colors are vivid and deeply saturated, and it’s never looked better since its theatrical run. If you’ve only seen the VHS version of this film, you’ll just be stunned at the colors in the film. There occasional nicks and pops are evident throughout the film, but not enough to annoy the viewer. Considering the age of the film, we couldn’t ask for a better transfer. A run on my 16:9 widescreen TV, it fits the screen exactly. So yes, it is anamorphic and 16x9 enhanced. There are multiple subtitles including English in white, and sound presentation is in Japanese stereo, which serves the purpose. One big negative aspect about this DVD release is the lack of extras, just the cast and awards info. Although
this edition doesn’t include much extras, Dreams DVD is likely to be
an eye candy to you fans of this movie as you will not be disappointed
with the splendid picture quality of this R2 Japanese Warner release on
DVD. Warner’s Region 1
DVD is set to be released in early march and I would assume that it
would be the exact same transfer and sadly same extras or lack thereof.
For those of you impatient like myself, the region 2 Japanese DVD
can be obtained at several Distribution:
Warner Brothers Running time: Listed as 120 minutes Actual
Running time of the film itself was Release
Information: Edition Details: Region 2 Encoding Widescreen
Anamorphic
1.78:1 aspect ratio Cast and Awards Info DVD
Release Date: Keep
case Chapter stops: 31 |
Recommended Reading for Japanese Film Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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The Japan Journals : 1947-2004, by Donald Richie |
The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp |
Kon Ichikawa (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs) by James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario |
Shohei Imamura (Cinematheque
Ontario Monographs, No. 1) by James Quandt |
Eros Plus Massacre: An
Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema
(Midland Book, Mb 469) by David Desser |
The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Ritchie |
by Yasujiro Ozu, Kogo Noda, Donald Richie, Eric Klestadt |
Ozu by Donald Ritchie |
A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie |
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