Why Akira Kurosawa's version of the ``Tokyo Olympics'' never materialized, Part 2

A phantom “wonderful dream”

In 1990, Takamine Hideko went to the cinema to watch Kurosawa's new film, Dreams (1990), which had just been released. She wrote, "Dreams contained everything about Akira Kurosawa. (Omitted) I suddenly thought, 'Kuro has written his will with this film.' I don't know why I had this thought, but for some reason I felt that way, so there's nothing I can do about it" (The Address Book of Humankind). Kurosawa, who turned 80 that year, was, as Takamine pointed out, trying to write a story that could be called a will in Dreams. It was a story reminiscent of a remake of the lost Tokyo Olympiad.

The first draft of "Dreams," originally titled "I Had a Dream Like This," was written in 1986. It was meant to be an anthology of 11 stories, but in the second draft printed in 1988, one story was cut, making it 10 stories in total, and when filming began, two more stories were removed, making it 8 stories in total. One of the unfilmed stories, "A Wonderful Dream," was prepared as the final story in the film.

The film begins with the protagonist, “I,” having breakfast in a hotel room. Then, I hear the roar of artillery and airplanes, so I look outside the window and see a formation of bombers flying so large that they darken the sky. I wonder if a war has broken out. However, when I turn on the TV, the announcer shouts, “Finally, peace has come. The long-awaited peace has come.” The world’s leaders have gathered together and signed a world peace treaty unanimously, and all weapons have been disposed of and are being collected in a specific location. Nuclear weapons will also be discarded on a dead planet in space. When I go outside in ecstasy, people are marching into the square from the roads that radiate in all directions from the circular square. There are people from all over the world, and everyone is smiling.

At this point, you will notice that "A Wonderful Dream" bears a strong resemblance to the opening and closing ceremonies conceived for Kurosawa's version of "Tokyo Olympiad." The stage directions in the script further state, "A large airship appears in the sky above the plaza. Hands reach out from its gondola and throw flowers. Looking up at the rain of flowers, the people cheer and become more and more energized, shouting something, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. The procession now becomes a dancing whirlpool, and the plaza swells and erupts with the energy of people intoxicated with joy."

The reason this work was removed from "Dreams" was apparently because "special effects and other costs would have been too high" (" The Kurosawa Series: Akira Kurosawa (Special Volume) "); however, Dan Fumi was cast in the role of the announcer, and there were plans to film it in America with 300 extras.

Kurosawa's dream of the Olympics never came true, even in "A Wonderful Dream," but even reading the script, one can imagine that Kurosawa's original version of "Tokyo Olympiad" must have depicted a dreamlike moment filled with joy, in which people around the world enjoyed peace beyond national and ethnic boundaries. At the end of "Tokyo Olympiad," Kon Ichikawa wrote, "Is it really okay to let this created peace end as a dream?", but the Olympics that Kurosawa tried to depict were also merely "created peace" created by Kurosawa's directing skills. However, just as the clever crime tricks in " High and Inferno " gave rise to copycat crimes, what if the audience who saw Kurosawa's "A Wonderful Dream" imitated it? Film holds the potential for such a dreamlike event to happen, and this is the power of film that Kurosawa believed in.

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[References]

``Kinema Junpo'' ``Scenario'' ``Cinemagraphy'' ``Another Theory of Akira Kurosawa'' ``Akira Kurosawa Collection'' ``People Talking About Akira Kurosawa'' ``Shozen Imai's Work - A Life with a Screen'' ``Tasashi Imai's Movie Life'' ``Kurosawa Movies'' ``Current Document Ran'' ``Akira Kurosawa: The World of ``Ran'''' ``The Legend of Kurosawa: His Dreams and Will'' ``Akira Kurosawa and Red Beard'' Document: The Culmination of Human Love'' ``Kinema Junpo Bessatsu Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune Two Japanese ”, “World Film Writers 3 Akira Kurosawa”, “Biography of Akira Kurosawa”, “Toad Oil: Something Like an Autobiography”, “Complete Edition of Kon Ichikawa's Films”, “Tokyojin”, “Bessatsu Kinema Junpo Tokyo Olympics”, “In Search of Akira Kurosawa” ``The Giant and the Boy: Akira Kurosawa's Women'' ``My Travels in the Art World'' ``Complete Works of Akira Kurosawa'' ``Large System of Akira Kurosawa'' ``My Traveling Diary'' ``Ningen Address Roku'' ``Review of Tabata Politics: A Lifetime in the Olympics ``The man who dedicated the 1940 Tokyo Olympics from bid to return'' ``Asahi Shimbun'', ``Yomiuri Shimbun'', ``Mainichi Shimbun'', ``Tokyo Shimbun'', ``Hochi Shimbun'', ``Miyako Shimbun'', ``Sankei Shimbun'', ``Weekly Shincho'' ``Weekly Gendai'' ``Weekly Yomiuri'' ``Bungei Shunju'' ``Bungei Asahi'' ``Ushio'' ``Bungei'' ``Chuokoron'' ``Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' ``High School Days'' ``Tokyo Olympic Tokyo Organizing Committee Newsletter'' ``Tokyo Metropolitan Government “Olympic Times” “Distribution White Paper for the Full-length Documentary Film “Tokyo Olympics””

Text: Guinea Pig Yoshida

Born in 1978. Movie critic. Another name is Ichiro Yoshida. He has written for ``Eiga Hiho'', ``Kinema Junpo'', ``Eiga Geijutsu'', ``Scenario'', etc. His books include ``Introduction to film criticism! ” (Yosensha), co-authored with “Film director Takeshi Kitano. ” (Film Art Company) and others

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