TEN NIGHTS OF DREAM / TEN DREAMS [Lit.] (YUME JÛ-YA). Viewed on Streaming. Special effects = eight (8) stars overall; cinematography = seven (7) stars overall; lighting = seven (7) stars overall ; subtitles = four (4) to five (5) stars depending. This is a fascinating collection of shorts (each around 10 minutes in duration) derived from an early 20th Century anthology of the same name with 11 directors (some of whom wrote their own scripts and often used different cinematographers). Among other burning questions answered in this pot of photo-plays is what pigs dream of (and it's not flying!) as well as what silent movies might have come to look like if color and sound were never invented. Not surprisingly, these mini movies are linked in a number of ways including: similarities in dialogs; the dreamer is always a male; plot lines fixate on past events; and there is a shared fear (maybe hatred?) of children. (Director Atsushi Shimizu also tries to sort of tie things together in a brief prologue and epilogue.) These are more nightmares than dreams and, true to the form we all know well, start in the middle of things and end abruptly.
THE FIRST NIGHT (DAIICHIYA). Six (6) stars; Director = Akio Jissoji. At the end of a hundred-year marriage, a dying wife asks the dreamer to bury her with a pet goldfish recently deceased as a result of being dropped bowel and all.
THE SECOND NIGHT (DAINIYA). Three (3) stars; Director = Kon Ichikawa. A nothing burger (but with an interesting desk clock) shot silently in black and white complete with inter-title cards!
THE THIRD NIGHT (DAISANYA). Six (6) stars; Director = Takashi Shimizu. Scary with a child monster clinging to the back of the dreamer.
THE FOURTH NIGHT (DAIYONYA). Three (3) stars; Director = Atsushi Shimizu . A nothing burger involving children at play who seem a bit sinister, and a towel that refuses to change into a snake.
THE FIFTH NIGHT (DAIGOYA). Six (6) stars; Director = Keisuke Toyoshima (who is also credited as screen writer). A women riding bareback through the night racing to do, well, something before first light. (Nice horse.)
THE SIX NIGHT (DAIROKUYA). Three (3) stars; Director = Matsuo Suzuki (who is also credited as screen writer). A poorly choreographed music video well past it's "sell-by" date. Subtitles = two (2) stars; they are hard to see with white backgrounds due to poor choice of text color and font.
THE SEVENTH NIGHT (DAINANAYA). Two (2) stars; Directors =Yoshitaka Amano and Masaaki Kawahara. A pointless, amine with blurry drawings and total gibberish as dialog!
THE EIGHT NIGHT (DAIHACHIYA). Barely six (6) stars; Director =Nobuhiro Yamashita . The dreamer uses a mirror to watch events behind his back while searching for a goldfish seller.
THE NINTH NIGHT (DAIKYUYA). Six (6) stars; Director = Miwa Nishikawa (who is also credited as screen writer). The dreamer (in a dream told to him in a dream) as a child is tied with a leash to a temple pillar inside of which he catches glimpses of his father who died during WW I (or maybe it was WW II?).
THE TENTH NIGHT (DAIJUYA). Seven (7) stars; Director = Yuudai Yamaguchi (who is also credited as co-screen writer). Clarifies what pigs (especially female ones) long to literally devour (answer: overly handsome men!).
A mixed bag, but surreal fun overall. Recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of Ten Nights of Dreams
