Customer Reviews

Arizona Dream

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Incredible story.Terrific cast (Johnny Depp,Faye Dunaway,Lili Taylor,Vincent Gallo and Jerry Lewis).Beautiful cinematography. Ethereal soundtrack by Goran Bregovic. Cinema with a capital C, at its best. Emir Kusturica and his unique style strike again with this amazing story of a young boy (Johnny Depp) "kidnapped" from NY by his cousin (Vincent Gallo) and taken to Arizona to be the best man at his uncle's wedding. Kusturika gives us, in this tragi-comedy, an interpretation of the meaning of life through the eyes of a young man in his early twenties. Kusturika himself said:"...This movie is about a young man who wanders into what is actually a hell that exists between two women, because of the tragedy in their lives...It could be that this movie is my reaction on how I see Western civilization. It comes from a kind of philosophy I've established after 35 years of living on this planet. I believe that human beings belong to nature not to civilisation. And I see man as being like a fish passing through a huge city. the fish doesn't understand anything about the city, he's just floating through it. What I'm trying to do, always, is to get people wondering." Well Mr Kusturika, Congratulations! you have succeeded! A must see, a must ownn! My favorite since it came out in France in the winter 1993. Let me know if you ever run in the States into an European copy of Arizona Dream. The movie has lost 4-5 incredible scenes(about 3-5 minutes each)on its way to the States.Why? WHY?

I have two favourite movies and one of them is "Arizona Dream". I can watch it endlessly and very often. You know sometimes you got the mood when you just want to sit and watch something old, something you've seen many times, something very dear and familiar. "Arizona Dream" works for me at those occasions. Actually I don't like Emir Kusturica and his other works. Paradox, but I adore "Arizona Dream". It's the movie which seem to absorb all the wisdom of the world and at the same time all its contradictory. In a few words I can tell about the plot that the film is about our dreams. That we all pursue them and doing that we don't notice people around who also have their dreams. And very often our desires obstruct other men's desires. And we can never be happy. I know, maybe it sounds silly but it's not.
I can't say what happened to Kusturica in this feature but all 140 minutes of the film are flying very fast and you wish it was endless. Johnny Depp is very different, Vincent Gallo is ingenious as always (just watch his "North by Northwest" remake scene), Jerry Lewis is hilarious, Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor make a perfect duo.
"Arizona Dream" is a kind of a movie every time you watch it you find something new, you discover new hidden meanings and layers. You won't get bored with it for sure. If you don't believe me - check imdb ratings. They are quite good and I'm sure none of those who voted loves this film as I do. If there was an ultimate movie for me to recommend for everyone - it'd be "Arizona Dream" without any doubt. I understand it's not a commercial project but still it's a shame such a brilliant picture is still not out on region 1 DVD.

Has been one of my all-time favorite movies since first seeing a showing of the original version (terrible that that isn't available). I still watch the this version about once a year and still notice some new metaphor or motif every time. Some very dark humor here -- Lili Taylor attempting to hang herself with a pair of panty hose is hilarious. Taylor and Depp are wonderful throughout. Seems to me like this was an unusual role for Depp -- he plays a rather average sort of fellow, who finds himself among some real eccentrics. While others may feel that those eccentricities are a bit over the top, in some ways this made them all the more believable to me. Too bad the soundtrack isn't available -- it includes an Iggy Pop song that I'd really like to have.

I have two favourite movies and one of them is "Arizona Dream". I can watch it endlessly and very often. You know sometimes you got the mood when you just want to sit and watch something old, something you've seen many times, something very dear and familiar. "Arizona Dream" works for me at those occasions. Actually I don't like Emir Kusturica and his other works. Paradox, but I adore "Arizona Dream". It's the movie which seem to absorb all the wisdom of the world and at the same time all its contradictory. In a few words I can tell about the plot that the film is about our dreams. That we all pursue them and doing that we don't notice people around who also have their dreams. And very often our desires obstruct other men's desires. And we can never be happy. I know, maybe it sounds silly but it's not.
I can't say what happened to Kusturica in this feature but all 140 minutes of the film are flying very fast and you wish it was endless. Johnny Depp is very different, Vincent Gallo is ingenious as always (just watch his "North by Northwest" remake scene), Jerry Lewis is hilarious, Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor make a perfect duo.
"Arizona Dream" is a kind of a movie every time you watch it you find something new, you discover new hidden meanings and layers. You won't get bored with it for sure. If you don't believe me - check imdb ratings. They are quite good and I'm sure none of those who voted loves this film as I do. If there was an ultimate movie for me to recommend for everyone - it'd be "Arizona Dream" without any doubt. I understand it's not a commercial project but still it's a shame such a brilliant picture is still not out on region 1 DVD.

I saw this movie few years back and wanted to see it again and finally found it on Region 2 DVD, in its full length version. The movie is dressed in Goran Bregovic's beautiful music, while the acting of Depp, Danaway and Lewis is captivating. It's not a movie for everyone, nor will all viewers understand what lies beneath the skin. I personally enjoyed every bit of the sweetness and sorrow, despair and hope that was artfully combined into this surreal blend of comedy and drama.

Has been one of my all-time favorite movies since first seeing a showing of the original version (terrible that that isn't available). I still watch the this version about once a year and still notice some new metaphor or motif every time. Some very dark humor here -- Lili Taylor attempting to hang herself with a pair of panty hose is hilarious. Taylor is wonderful throughout, as is Vincent Gallo who plays an aspiring actor. Seems to me like this was an unusual role for Depp -- he plays a rather average sort of fellow, who finds himself among some real eccentrics. While others may feel that those eccentricities are a bit over the top, in some ways this made them all the more believable to me. Too bad the soundtrack isn't available -- it includes an Iggy Pop song that I'd really like to have.

This was one of Johnny Depp's earliest feature films after his multiple seasons on the television show "21 Jumpstreet", which made him a famous teen idol. He promptly went about trying to dismantle his teen idol image after finally being free of his television contract. He decided to star in the John Waters film 'Cry Baby'; his part was a teenage juvenile delinquent, circa 1950's. This being a John Waters film guaranteed the neccessary irony to offset the shallow,insipidly earnest scripts which he apparently suffered through on T.v. 'Cry Baby 'allowed him a taste of artistic freedom, and an oppurtunity to mock his past.

Cut to 'Arizona Dream', a confident step into Depp becoming what we know him as today, a smart, gifted, unpredictable wizard at what he does. People often say he is unpredictable, but in a way this is predictable, however, I really never know what to expect from him. People say he plays lost souls, and that is fine with me, because the reality of the situation is, aren't we all?

'Arizona Dream' is the story of Axel,a a young lost soul, naive, fragile, sincere, with an uncomprimising dreaminess, which verges on mystical. He is placed in a prediciment which forces him to deal with issues of family, love, and abandonment. The film weaves together the lives of two seperate families which this character is involved with. Axel attempts to follow his heart and his own judgement regarding these people, which puts him through the gamut of human emotions.

By the end of this movie this young man could easily succumb to a morbid sadness, and allow his innocence to be stripped from him, turning back out into life as brutal realist, no longer willing to follow his dreams and whims and pause in the face of life's devasting beauty. But magically, and naturally, his innocence is unmarred, his tenderness remains intact. In the wake of tragedy he is able to remain grateful and the last scene of him walking through the empty wind-whipped street at night in his grief proves this.

As he lays down next to a resting cat upon the old Cadillac which has been covered in a clothe, inside of a Cadillac dealership indefinately closed for business and chained up,he is dignified and serene and filled with love and acceptance. The whole interspersing of the Eskimo story is surreal but it ties it all together, the themes of wonder, innocence, tenderness, transformation, and life in all of it's devestating beauty.

I believe Johnny understood this as much as his character by the end of this film, and drawing from his filmography he has not looked back since. So, if you are a Depp fan, or simply a hopeless dreamer, this movie provides Johnny at his best, and some good, fun, spiritual nourishment. P.S. It is also a very funny film with other well-known actors in it who are fantastic, not to mention the cinematagraphy and music are gorgeous. Also, I live in the area where this movie was filmed and I am thrilled to watch a film view this place with the wonder of the eyes in which i see it. Open your heart when you watch this movie and let it take you away!

The tale of "Arizona Dream" is one of many things....Of growing up. Of coming to realize who you really are. Of turtles crawling on the table and reincarnation. Of an Oedipal-complex-type relationship....but one wherein there is real love. Johnny Depp somehow makes the character of Axel Blackmar real, as real as anyone we might know. He captures perfectly the awkwardness, wistfulness, and pliability of the young confused adult....or of the flounder before the eyes have both gone to the same side. I loved how at the end the Eskimos were Axel and his uncle, looking at the fish. And the tale of the saguaro cactus, how it needs a mesquite tree to protect it unitl it has grown....Isn't that the way of life, here on earth? And when you no longer need the mesquite, then you begin your climb to the Moon. On whatever you build your life out of, that is what you'll have for a ladder. Build an empire of gold, and your tower will bend. Build it of love, and it will either lead off on its' own path or it will get you there....Arizona Dream. The quintessinal dream....and many more combined.

Bizarre, mythical, enrapturing, just plain odd....These all begin to describe the film "Arizona Dream", a multilayered work of art....At times you think that you yourself have been sucked into Axel's brain and are dreaming his life from another perspective, yet it is only his story. Johnny Depp works magic --again-- as the young, confused man who is suckered into going to Arizona and becoming a car salesman, which he has no desire for--he previously worked as a fishseller and catcher in NYC, and would "look into the fishes' eyes and read their thoughts", which is a far cry from bullheading someone into buying another piece of trash! Yet he does not stay a car salesman for long. He falls in with an older woman and her daughter, who cannot live together because they are too similar--but who do, and fight every minute of the way. The daughter is slightly odd; wanting to die and return as a turtle, as well as playing an accordion full blast at just the exact wrong times....The mother is a rather insecure woman who dreams of building a flying machine so she will be able to soar. Axel begins an affair with the mother, which is quite playful and freeing for both--one very funny scene is Johnny Depp wearing a huge crinoline around his neck, being quite wild indeed with Faye Dunaway. Eventually, the uncle comes and demands that Axel returns, which he refuses, and when the uncle tries to take him by force, out comes Faye with a long, double--barreled shotgun, which she is not afraid to use. The cousin is really quite annoying, however, at one point he is being chased by Faye's plane [which she got for her birthday] in a quasi--remake of the famous North by Northwest chase, which was previously cited so that you know what is going on. Eventually, the uncle dies, and Axel eventually returns to the house of the women, where his mistress is mad that he spent time with the corpse. But all is reconciled, by sex it would seem. The end is strange, actually the whole thing is, but the end is somewhat devastating, as well as having a sense of disbelief at itself--did we really DO that? However, this film is a gem, and there are so many psychological aspects incorporated that it is easy to see why this one went to Cannes. I highly recommend it, even if I only gave it 4 stars. That, incidentally, was mainly because I felt there was not enough done with both Axel's relationship with the daughter, and with his "movie--Eskimo--dream...." which fits exactly with the film, down to the enveloping of the woman for love....You'll see. And enjoy.

Lili Taylor is a godess!! This film opens a window into a realm that very few can recreate. Depp is sexualy alluring as allways, and Dunaway radiates a beautifull energy. Open mindedness is recomended while watching, so, allow youreself to be engulfed by the pure honesty, and disturbing glory of this wonderfull, seductive film. ... ... But, thats just my oppinion.