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If anybody’s dreams are interesting, Akira Kurosawa’s should be, and this late career fantasy is a consistently rewarding string of morality tales and visual essays that pop off the screen. Some of the imagery has input from the famed Ishiro Honda.

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 842

1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 15, 2016 / 39.95

Starring Mieko Harada, Mitsunori Isaki, Toshihiko Nakano, Yoshitaka Zushi, Hisashi Igawa, Chosuke, Chishu Ryu, Martin Scorsese, Masayuki Yui.

Cinematography Takao Saito, Shoji Ueda

Film Editor Tome Minami

Original Music Sinichiro Ikebe

Creative Consultant ishiro Honda

Visual Effects Supervisors Ken Ralston, Mark Sullivan

Produced by Hisao Kurosawa, Mike Y. Inoue

Written and Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

At the twilight of his career, after some episodes of career frustration and instability, Akira Kurosawa hit a high note with the epic costume dramas Kagemusha and Ran.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0 Chicago – I’m not sure, but I think there are more Akira Kurosawa titles available in the Criterion Collection than any other filmmaker. His classic films like “Ran,” “Rashomon,” “Seven Samurai,” and “Yojimbo” have been critically acclaimed releases for the influential series of DVDs. His 24th title in the Criterion Collection is last week’s “Dodes’da Ken,” one of the greatest directors of all time’s first film in color.

1970’s “Dodes’da Ken” came five years after the great “Red Beard” and five years before “Dersu Uzala” and a decade before “Kagemusha”. The film was made at a tumultuous time in Kurosawa’s personal life and was critically panned in his home country despite being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Dodes’da Ken was released on DVD on March 17th, 2009.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

According to some sources, the...