Arizona Dream (1993) watch online HD

For me, the movie Arizona Dream gives a great account of how dangerous it can be to be caught up in your dreams and the little worlds those dreams can create and if you don't move beyond, you're dead alive. The only character that seems to be able to step out of his own little world and capable of reflecting is Axel. All throughout the film nobody else changes, but Axel.

Leo, a caring but wallowed in guilt character, can not see his nephew as a real person but just a boy who'd take over his business once he dies. He's so caught up in his own version of reality that he doesn't see that Axel has grown up in the meantime and may want to figure out life for himself. Leo tries to shove down his world as a ready-made future for Axel, who has none of it. At the same time, Axel can grow beyond this when Leo commits suicide and offers to help his uncle in his car-dealer business. Axel seems to have a deep appreciation for life – a trait no one else seems to have in the movie.

Elaine is completely caught up in her childhood dream for flying in order to overcome her own depression. The only thing that matters for her is her own survival. She is unaware how much she steals any independence from her stepdaughter and her self-serving nature makes her empty – a trait that Axel recognizes by the end of the film. In contrast, Axel is first drawn to this quirky world of flying high as it seems real, but once he discovers that flying is only a form of displacement for Elaine, he sees through her and she looses her magnetic energy for him.

Grace is the only other person capable of growing besides Axel in the movie. In her first appearances she seems like a two-dimensional depressed character totally overshadowed by a sexy stepmother and consequently too depressed to be more than a little destructive animal. At the same time she seems to relate to others at least emotionally – her destructiveness at least seems like a form of connection to others. Towards the end of the movie, she can grow beyond herself and can start showing love and appreciation – the other side of her negative emotions and thus turns into a real person. But this transformation is too much for her psyche as she doesn't know how to live a healthy life, and even though Axel recognizes the real person in her, she chooses to kill herself – she has no choice, really.

Axel – who at least makes the effort to connect with characters, symbolizes the strength one needs to grow up and beyond what is around him. He's the most involved emotionally but because he's not caught up in his dream – or because his dream is abstract enough, he can stay detached while being attached. He's capable of caring and he's the one who's always there for more adult people who need help – and he delivers: One thing I was sure about: The moment my parents died, my childhood was gone forever. And it was gone forever, he becomes more of a grown up than most grown ups around him. He knows how to keep a distance even when Grace abuses him and there's only one point in the movie when he almost looses it – when Grace invites him to play Russian roulette.

For me, the Eskimo scene wonderfully sums up why we are here and that's something I think Axel finds for himself by the end of the film. Instead of the existential questions brought by the first Eskimo scene – how do you survive by love; nature can kill you and save you; why do we replicate our lives in inhuman conditions; – in the last Eskimo scene he just talks about fish with his uncle. The message, for me at the end was that instead of asking all these questions you just get on with your life, learn a trade you love and your life grows into the answers. At the same time, coming to understand this, you may have to go through a real emotional discovery of love, dreams, reincarnation, death – and if at the end you survive and strong enough, life might be worth living.

It seems that Axel was lucky to have had the guidance he received from his parents, but he had to experience them through his own skin. That's how he embarks at living in New York as his Mom suggested that New York has one of the eight magnetic pulls. But initially he chooses a job that not only allows daydreaming but also fosters it; he tags fish for an organization. Later, he's taken or dragged into a more real life, but a life still of dreams and not his own yet – he moves first into his uncle's dreams and then into Elaine's and Grace's. First he has to discover responsibility by rejecting his uncle and he has to discover love and death through love. It's only after these experiences that he can leave other people's lives and dreams and start his own. It's a wonderful fairy tale where a young boy wades through the quotations from his parents to discover his own place and soul.

"Good morning, Columbus." My mother's eternal words, reminding me America was already discovered, and that daydreaming was a long way from life's truths."

"For 15 years, he'd smooth down the road between Mexico and Arizona, and every morning he'd be out there looking for footprints in the dirt. But my father always said that work was like a hat you put on your head. And even without pants, you didn't have to be ashamed of your ass."

It's very rare that I see a movie that is truly, in all aspects, perfect.

For example, while The Princess Bride ranks pretty high on my list of movies I'd want to spend the rest of my life watching, I fully realize that the camera angles and special effects of that movie are just plain bad. And while Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas gets a perfect 10 from me, it still completely lacks plot. And so on.

Arizona Dream, however, is different.

The last movie I saw that was truly, in all aspects, perfect was Dog Day Afternoon, a 1975 true story starring Al Pacino and Chris Sarandon. For the longest time, it's been my obsession, my movified bible, everything other movies should aspire to be. And as of today, Dog Day Afternoon finally has competition in my personal top ten: Emir Kusturica's masterpiece very near surpasses Lumet's vision of captivating dialogue, insane details, and dodgy man-groping.

Let's change the subject for a bit. Do you know the scene in Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, where Bruce Willis is in his cage, and a hamster is running inside a wheel in the corner? Don't say yes, because you don't. It's inaudible. It's impossible to see. But it's there. Kusturica, much like Gilliam, is willing to make his world more detailed than your wildest dreams. His backgrounds are filled with symbolism and surrealism, his dark corners filled with soft puppies. And like Gilliam, he can make you cry with laughter, your only worry in the world being, 'how will I remember all these great quotes in the morning?'

But unlike Gilliam, Kusturica has the power to, barely a scene after the happy happy joy, make you sit there in stunned silence, your number one worry in the world being, 'how will I get my brain to understand the sheer tragedy that is unfolding here?'. Your will find yourself thinking, 'how do I get my mind to comprehend how perfectly this music fits the dialogue?'. Your eyes will follow the camera angles, the expressions of the insanely lovable characters, the many things happening in foreground and background-and you know, you just KNOW, that you will have to watch the movie again, and again, and again.

If you're a fan of movies such as Big Fish and Amélie, movies about people finding happiness and warmth in a world of surreal ambition, Arizona Dream will be your next obsession. But even if you think massive explosions and a grunting Bruce Willis are the only thing that can make a movie worth watching, you will still want to give this movie a chance- for the 'explosions' it causes will far, far surpass anything you've EVER experienced before.

10/10.

Saw this almost by accident at the age of 16 (it was the only thing on at the small town movie theater I was at, and hell, it had Johnny Depp in it, so why not?), and fell in love with the story, the acting and the directing.

Opened up a whole new world to me, one where movies weren't just "Hollywood spectaculars" or "romantic comedies", and I promise, if nothing else, it'll give you something to think about, and something to discuss. I'm sure its not for everyone, but what movie is?

If you can't feel for at least one of the characters in this movie, you're dead. Seriously. The characters may seem offbeat, but each presents something to the story, an element which is more true to real life than first appears.

Some movies only work if we let ourselves carry away by them. They present a surrealistic imagination world that comes from the mind of their creators. They are hard to watch, especially when they mix real characters that live their lives sometimes awaken, or inside one big dream or their own dreams.

Axel Blackmar (Johnny Depp) is a dreamer, and an unusual example of personal choices. His parents died and he went to New York, to work with fish. He could have sold cars with his uncle Leo (Jerry Lewis), but he's there, talking with that monotonous voice about what he does. Maybe it was a simple dream, where an Eskimo catches a fish with two eyes on the same side, and tells his kids to go out with their dog so he and his wife can…And the kid with the dog allow to see an orange balloon that seems to go from Alaska to New York, where Alex sleeps in a truck. "Wake up, Columbus", the words of his mother and Axel's hope to find something in the land already discovered by that man.

Alongside fish flying through the air, we join Axel to be the best man of his uncle's wedding. With his friend Paul Leger (Vincent Gallo), the untiring chats go from movies to philosophies about cakes, pies and bananas. Paul is an actor: "I'm having a great performance on Friday", he says. "It's an audition", Axel says to humiliate him. The truth is that it's not even an audition. This stuff lived by Axel is a story for us, but is a personal rediscovering and rethought of decisions in life for the character. When he sees Elaine (Faye Dunaway) he feels something strong, but doesn't know how to call it. Days later he becomes the lover of a woman decades older than him. Elaine's daughter, Grace (Lili Taylor) is also there, and it doesn't goes long until Axel finds himself in a crossroad between the heart of two women, that as he describes them, are "too similar and big to be in the same world".

David Atkin's story and screenplay comes plagued of phrases that could come out of a lunatic's mouth, but they fit in the film's context and twist your head at maximum. "I've got to climb…It's a long way to the moon"; "I'm gonna live forever until I become a turtle…They have infinite lives", besides scenes of well known movies in crucial moments. And what music (Goran Bregovic)! And what editing (Andrija Zafranovic)! And what cinematography (Vilko Filac)! And what director! Known for his originality, recognized director Emir Kusturica puts his own signature to his movie, collaborating in the story he must have dreamed a little to; giving life to the dream with his flying camera, full of unexpected turns and in love of its surroundings. What he achieves is greater words, although not everybody could understand it, and, for that matter, appreciate it.

And his actors…Jerry Lewis in a total comprehension of his character, and so involved in his work that you wouldn't believe it. So incredibly likable in one of those roles we never give much importance to. Faye Dunaway…Wow! She got to work with some of these actors later, but here, as an old woman in character and, with respect, in person, she maintains that virtue of creating uniqueness, with her laughs, smiles and way of saying things. Lili Taylor was the most interesting character here. The silent daughter that could be crazy but no one can really tell. With imagination and freedom, Taylor makes her character believable and not as overacted as it might be. Vincent Gallo, who I respect mostly as a director and as an actor that does what he wants, the ability he has had to choose his roles is visible here again; as he shines without lights to help him. A wonderful performance his fans shouldn't miss.

But Depp…How can I explain? I've said it a lot, surely, but I will repeat it. He's like a magician, but not with the cards and the hat and the tricks. He is with his face, his looks, his way of talking, his perfection of movement…But it's not really something technical: "in the acting world, Johnny Depp is a magician". I'm sure he still has plenty of that for us, but here is where he let us know first.

In one scene, Vincent Gallo's character Paul, an actor, requests that no one touches his face, because it's important. "Do you think they touch Brando's face? Do you think they touch Pacino's, De Niro's? Do you think they touch Johnny Depp's face? I don't know then, but not know; and if they did before, they shouldn't have.

i just read a few of the other reviews and found them quite entertaining. first off, anyone who makes a comment such as Kusturica having lack of direction has obviously been weened on Hollywood fluff. Kusturica is a master director so pull your heads out of the sand or your butt's please! some people comment that the film is confusing. well, yes it is sometimes confusing, it's supposed to be! that's half the beauty of it. is there a law that says films have to make sense at all times?!?!? geeez. considering the title "Arizona Dream" you'd think the viewer would be half expecting something maybe....dreamlike?! correct me if i'm wrong but films are essentially entertainment and escapism are they not? then why do people constantly complain that a movie isn't historically accurate, or maybe too detatched from reality, doesn't follow a linear time path, or is "too weird". anyways, this movie has an excellent cast that work very well together. it has a totally original story and the soundtrack is outstanding. i don't agree with laying out the story line in a review so i'll just leave it a surprise. isn't more fun to watch a movie when you have no idea what is going to happen? for those people who are open to something refreshing and original, seek out this movie. it's a great little adventure well worth taking.

Having seen this movie, I felt rather strange. This bubbly feeling in my gut kept me up in the night. I felt I had to do something for this film, confess my love in a letter, send it flowers, buy it Champagne. It left me gasping. I wanted more. So the rest of the night I watched the special features on the DVD.

I realise that it is sad to have emotions about a film that would usually be reserved for living beings, however I am completely unashamed. If this movie was a man, I'd do unspeakable things to it. I don't care what it's "about". I don't give a monkey's about any "plot" that it may or may not have. I have not searched for anything that everybody conditioned to Hollywood films, however good or bad they may be, inevitably searches for in a film. Why do you need to be spoonfed? Can you not just completely let go and enjoy a work of art for its mere beauty?

Sorry, journeying into pretentious land.

This is undoubtedly my absolute favourite Johnny Depp film, it used to be a toss up between Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Dead Man, but I admit that this surpasses them by a fraction. I'd actually like to say that I preferred Dead Man, but I, um, didn't. Sorry. I feel I have cheated on Dead Man.

There are certain scenes in Arizona Dream that show things about Johnny Depp as a performer that I never would have suspected. In this film he stepped into a realm shared by characters in the films of Fellini and Brunuel. It pleases me that he can do art house as fantastically as this and do mainstream as well, although I do not entirely approve of the stuff that is too mainstream (I.E. Pirates).

His character is beautifully complex, he is a kook, but a sexy kook, and he is everything else besides. The other performances are also wonderful. Gallo is a nutcase, Taylor needs therapy, Dunaway is at the same time tyrannical and naive. Sure the characters contradict themselves, but don't we? It just keeps it all the more desirable and fascinating.

For anybody who appreciates surrealist art, this is a must see. For anybody who appreciates Johnny Depp, there is no question that this film is absolutely essential.

They say that "Arizona Dream" is Kusturica's best work because it is American, well, it's not that American despite it was filmed there and probably is about the American dream, it is just a story of people's lives, like in all Kusturica's films, and it's just a great work of a great film director, not depending on geographical factors. The characters aren't sexy lady journalists or successful businessmen , they are those who we call usual people - but no one in the world is usual for we aren't made at a factory, and daily routine is much more interesting, and much more humane then any sci-fi-hi-tech-futuristic stuff. all the characters are a bit crazy and so is everything around. There's some magic in there , and something tragic, and everyone's little private dreams, useless and sweet , and relations between people which seem to be one thing but are absolutely another, though the people tied by them may never notice them or never admit, and love all the way through.

Yugoslavian director Emir Kusterica is most well known for his critically acclaimed international films like "Time of the Gypsies" and "Underground"(1995). He did one English language film in Ameica. The film "Arizona Dream" is a highly underrated film that people have seem to forgotten. Which is a shame, since it has an amazing cast of well known actors like Johnny Depp, Vincent Gallo, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis and Lili Taylor. Jonny Depp plays Axel a young twenty something dreamer. In the beginning of the film he has a dream about an Eskimo family. He works at a dock cleaning fish and often drifts away from reality to dreams. Him and his friend Paul (Vincent Gallo) drive to Arizona to visit Axel's uncle Mr. Sweetie (Jerry Lewis)who's a car salesman. I must say Depp and Lewis make a great comic duo. Axel and Paul end up staying with the wealthy Elaine Stalker and her suicidal daughter Grace (Lili Taylor). Axel starts dating Mrs. Stalker, but at the same time has strange feelings for her daughter. The film is very surreal and dreamlike. Mrs. Stalker obsessively dreams of flying, so her and Axel build a flying machine that resembles a Right Brothers style airplane. It's hilarious when the plain repeatedly malfunctions. There's also a floating fish throughout the movie, turtles, an attempted pantie hose suicide and a weird sex scene where Jonny Depp crows like a rooster (must be seen to be believed). Warner Bros. felt that the film was too European. So the film collected dust on their shelf and had a poor limited release. The film does have a magic-realist tragi-comedy style like Emir Kusterica's other Eastern European films. Co writer David Atkins later went on to write the screenplay for Novacaine. Also producer Claudie Ossard has also helped produce other bizarre films like "City of Lost Children". "Arizona Dream" is a quirky and strange masterpiece. Track down a VHS copy, or better yet the 20 minute longer international version. It's quite a cult sensation in Europe.

I can't recall any other film right now which would deserve my 10 out of 10 more then "Arizona". Every part of this film is 10 out of 10. Acting gets 10. Directing takes 10. Camera is 10. And music? Well, music takes 11.

I remember when I first realized that you really learn what people are like when they're drunk. There are the happy lushes who love the world & fill it with hugs & sloppy kisses when they've had too much. Then there are the ones who get mean, real mean - violent even, all the rage coming out. Some movies bring out the same thing in people. This is one of them. Personally, I think it's a superb movie, but then I was always a lovesick sloppy drunk, too.

What more can I say? Everyone in this movie, especially Jerry Lewis is a thousand times better than they have ever been in any other movie. And Kusturica? Not only today's greatest living director, but one of the most creative & original visionaries ever to work in the medium. Breathtaking!

This is a really underrated film that has unfortunately seemed to have been banished to direct-to-video obscurity. And in an edited version no less. Definitely not a film for everyone but if you can find it, it's well worth checking out. Well acted by the whole cast and wonderfully directed. Hopefully an unedited version of this movie will be released on video someday.

What a great movie. Having only seen it once, and just an hour ago, this may not be the kind of review this film deserves. One question that goes through my mind is that why have i not seen or heard of this movie before? It's pure genius, this is exactly what needs to be in a good film. It's so deliciously quirky, and passionately engaging. Makes you wonder if we're not all insane.

Director Emir Kusturica and David Atkins provided a quirky, funny and surprisingly sad story, in which the characters were the organs and the direction the soul. The central theme in this film were Axel's dreams, and how Axel saw the world interpreted through his dreams. And the film revolved around the message that Axel's dream world and the real world were not as different, things that seemed insane or weird happened all the time.

The absurdity of this film is unparalleled. *spoilers* Take the first scene at Elaine's house where Grace tries to kill herself with her pantyhose, or when she lets her turtle walk over the dinner. And the flying scene during Elaine's birthday when Paul is re-acting the North By Northwest scene. The absurdity is the purest form of comedy, not the pathetic slapstick you see these days in the Adam Sandler flicks. Kusturica directed comedy so well, and the actors did a splendid job on following his lead.

Emotions and atmospheres were represented with such vigour, vitality and craftmanship, emotionally intense scenes took grip of the audience and didn't let them go. I was scared to breathe in case i might miss something. There was an urgency about the whole movie that made you almost uncomfortable. Well played, well directed. Nice music too.

I can't say what the meaning of this film is, i would have to watch it a few more times. But I think I've just become a fan of Lili Taylor's. I recommend it to anyone who wants a breath of fresh air, a truly funny and moving movie that you won't forget very soon, unless you're into the Adam Sandler stuff.

Arizona Dream is about the American Dream, to achieve the American dream you gotta have a beautiful woman, and to get that you need to own a good automobile, in this case a Cadillac, as Uncle Leo puts it. Kusturica is a true artist, he paints in pictures, he makes the bizarre and surrealistic seem natural and plausible. The story unfolds with a lot of unexpected turns, although Axel gently warns us; "If you see a gun in act one, be sure it will go off in Act 3" he's quoting Tjechov, and yes it's a wild film, it's full of hope, dreams, despair and sorrow. It's a bit like a Russian play, it's got it's share of madness; Axel dreams of becoming an Eskimo, the problem for Axel is that he's not the only one with a dream, almost everyone's got one. The older brother's is about acting, Uncle Leo's is about piling Cadillacs in a tower to the moon, the eccentric widow dreams about flying and her depressed daughter about being reborn as a turtle, since she thinks turtle's are always happy. A remarkable film, a European masterpiece. Don't miss out.

... and not liking this movie is a error in taste.

There's nothing else to add.

We see here that the life of an artist has everything to do with his production, and that it is this very production that makes our lives artistic.

Actors are splendid, the script is a masterpiece, the music is exactly what the movie needed, and the whole thing is a beauty bomb. When it explodes in your face, you can just look at it, watch the fire, and wish you'll still be there to get it another time. You can't heal from that artistic injury.

This movie is as artistically rich as Brad Pitt is wealthy.

If I had to keep only one movie in my life, that would be it.

A must see, and a must see again.

Arizona Dream is a movie that has Eskimos and a flying fish.It seems like a dream.And that dream includes Jerry Lewis.It's a surreal ride into a mind of Johnny Depp and all those weird people in his life.Depp is Axel Blackmar who comes to Arizona to his uncle Leo Sweetie's (Lewis) wedding.He's taken there by Paul Leger (Vincent Gallo).Paul's a movie buff.In a movie theater he speaks the lines of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci in Raging Bull.And he does the crop duster scene made famous by Cary Grant in North by Northwest.In Arizona Axel meets a mature woman and her daughter.The mature woman is Faye Dunaway (Elaine Stalker) and the daughter is Lili Taylor (Grace Stalker).Emir Kusturica is the man behind Arizona Dream (1993).Johnny Depp was a young talent in 1993.The role of young Axel is just the right part for the man who picks unconventional roles.The funny man Jerry Lewis plays a part less funny this time as the car dealer uncle.But he can do that.He can mix the comic and the tragic matters very well.We all saw that in The King of Comedy (1983).Dunaway and Taylor are terrific as the quarreling mother and daughter.All the other people in this movie do a great job as well.In a minor part there's Michael J.Pollard who drives Jerry Lewis crazy.The music played in this movie is wonderful.There's Bésame Mucho, In The Deathcar is beautiful.Some people would call this a weird movie.I would call it...a weird movie.But sometimes weird is good.

This is another of Kusturica's masterpieces, after Underground and Crna macka, biely macor. The poetic of his narrating is present, however, this time projected into completely different atmosphere.

Fay Dunaway and Johny Depp are amazing - their performance is of the rank of the classical music solos.

Music is one of the best I have heard and seen - with the Piano, Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers... Camera and editing also rullez. I can't recommend a movie more than this one.

I was Best Boy on this show. The most pleasant movie experience I've had. Gunnison, Nome (in Feb!), Douglas AZ, Nogales AZ, and a ranch near the Mexican border. I just saw the Director's Cut last night in L.A. ------ Where is the 1000' mag Steadicam shot?! We built an entire cyclorama stage in the alley behind the auto dealer, painted outerspace, rigged a Caddy on a forklift, lit it big (including the only Titan arcs that Mole Richardson had working at the time), and flew a wall up and down for various parts of the 10:00 shot. It was great. Where is it!? That scene took lots of work, time, thought, rehearsal, and we were all very proud of it. I think we did 3 takes, and at dailies (upstairs in the deserted department store next to the hotel) the whole crew was thrilled. Where is that shot?!?!?!?!!?

five years have gone, i still remember how it speared life through my bones. i felt emotions that were extreme. insanely. i remember how it left me with dreams i insanely wanted -- even needed -- to get. and i still blindly wish they would come true. what a privilege to have seen it. even more, that i breathed all the surrealism and craziness i could. even more, that i know i did not, cannot, breathe all it can give. it was the film (i merely watched) that made me experience life in one of its rawest and wildest pinnacles.

i can only think of a few more words to say-- extraordinary, beautiful, and priceless.

This film is classic as the test of time tells. What a shame it never got the attention it deserved. Loved it from the first viewing and love it today when I watched it last night again. This film is about dreams which is what films are about. This film is a charmer and makes you feel good about the world. A shame it never got shown in the US in the original cut. I guess it has been forgotten. The soundtrack is of the best and remains with me till today. The best performances of Vincent Gallo and Lili Taylor. This film will one day get its due like many other classics. Even it's set in the US with American Actors, it's a European film all the way.

Axel is happy with his life in New York, having long since left what remains of his family behind him in Arizona. When his Uncle Leo is getting married, Axel is forced back home by his friend Paul. He finds his Uncle marrying a much younger woman and, while he wishes to leave as soon as he arrives, he finds himself staying around and selling cars with his Uncle – a job he maintains he has to desire to do. It is on the lot that he meets the dysfunctional mother and stepdaughter Elaine and Grace, the former of which he falls for and begins a relationship that evolves into an obsession with building a flying machine. Meanwhile, in stark contrast to his current desert setting, Axel's dreams continue to centre on an Inuit family and a flat fish with its face all on one side.

Well over a decade ago now I used to make much more of an effort to get to my local cinema. At that time I lived near an independent art-house style cinema that, while it showed all the big releases on its two screens, it did also give over time to smaller independent films. It was here that I saw Arizona Dream – a film that I then never saw or heard of for another ten or so years until for some reason I remembered it and decided to watch it again. I couldn't remember much about it apart from a few scenes, nor if I had liked it or not so to all intents and purposes I was coming to it fresh. I say this but by the end of the film I had certainly remembered why I could recall specific scenes and my enjoyment of them but had no strong memory of the total film – the reason being that the film is at its best in small chunks but fails to work as a whole.

The story is this wonderfully off-the-wall tale of love and dreams that fires out outrageous characters with abandon, allowing for many memorable scenes and quotable lines. It is comic, creative, silly and enjoyable. But it is also a bit tiring. The scenes don't come together as I would have liked and the general air of silliness undermines how much I was able to get emotionally involved and care about where the story was going. That it is almost two and a half hours long only serves to highlight this and it really does feel indulgent and unwilling to give anything up. The fault for this certainly lies with Kusturica as writer and director. He certainly has a creative flair to him, an ear for dialogue and an eye for a shot but his approach fragments the film and he doesn't manage to pull the heart of the viewer along with him. He does get good turns from his cast well, all of whom trusted him and seemed to go wherever he wanted them to go. Depp is wonderful as always, so willing to go with it, so willing to try anything and it pays off by him being good here. Lewis was a surprise to me then and was again on this viewing, he is solid in his character and he has this great presence that holds the attention. Gallo is also good although he is helped by how many of the better scenes he is the focal point in. Dunaway and Taylor both deliver their characters well and it is just a shame that their characters are the more "difficult" ones to like within the film – I think they did well though, I just acknowledge that I struggled with them due to their characters.

As with all cult films there will be those that see great beauty in this film and love it beyond all reason. I salute them and I envy them to a point and, while I disagree with them, this does not make them wrong and me right. However to the majority of casual viewers this film will come over as a total curio piece that provides delight and enjoyment in specific scenes but doesn't work as a total film and certainly doesn't have enough to it to justify the overlong running time.

Watching this spectacle through tear stained eyes, wearing the melancholy foible as a shroud of deep dark sincerity, I realized I was watching magic unfold. The textured layers of raw realism, the compounded fluff of unfounded love..it truly is but a dream.

Surely all who experience this film (I say experience, for one CAN NOT merely sit and let this one flow through one's head as powdery wafting nothingness!) surely all will feel the angst and tremor of love lost. And love is the golden ring we all seek... whether we admit it as our weakness or not. It is the bread of life, and life is for learning.

This is why there IS cinema. Devour it.

I'd have to start by saying that the first time I saw this film I left the theatre confused: I thought the film was very funny and clever, yet I felt sad at the end. I know more than a couple of people who thought the movie was mediocre or even downright boring, but I myself thought this film is just borderline genius.

It's very uncommon for fantasy films to hit the theatres these days, but fantasy like this is hard to come across at all. I find it difficult to accurately describe the movie, mostly because I find no other similar examples to use as a frame of reference. Most of the scenes are absurd and completely wicked, yet the film flows in a very natural manner never losing touch with firm ground. The spectator does, however, take off in a series of bizarre events in very visually appealing scenarios and becomes so entangled in the fantastic atmosphere that it reaches a point when no matter how silly or absurd an event, it becomes perfectly acceptable. All of this of course, has a generous amount of humour mixed in. But this isn't your typical comedy, most of the laughs in this film work in a nonsensical, satirical manner that even monty python would find silly. And it works.

If you come across this one do see it. This might be a flick that doesn't fit everyone, but if you enjoy it half as much as I did, you'll end up watching it more than once.

After watching Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and Fredrick Thor Fredrickson's Cold Fever I knew that there was going to be a great pairing of acting abilities. This, of course, being that of Johnny Depp and Lili Taylor I was not disappointed. The film, at first, absorbs the viewer into a translucent though engaging tale of exploration into the mind and soul. This makes the viewer belive momentarily that the film that they are watching is going to be fanciful and mystic. Hence there at first is no bond between the characters and the Viewer. However, reality becomes less and less of a point or actuality in the film as it paces through the lives of the characters centering on Johnny Depp's charecter. An ifinitity is subconsiously drawn with him as we watch. Faye Dunnaway, who, at first, seemed utterly mis-cast is brilliant, her potrayal of the pre-menopausal cradle-snatcher is brilliant. Jerry Lewis also makes the film great as gritty realism exists in wealth. It feels like there is a piece of everyone in it, there is depression, love, life and death and the exploration of time. Although the film seems like a dream on celluloid it also makes the viewer understand and more importantly empathise with the charecters and at the end the sadness is alleviated by the theme of life, that life goes on, almost in circles. To anyone who has not yet been seriously touched by a film, watch this. It might change you're mind. 10/10 p.s. Watch for the balloon scene at the beginning!

It's weird going from something as dense and epic in scope as director Emir Kusturica's "Underground", to the fairy tale tragic romance of "Arizona Dream". Weirder still is the cast of Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Lili Taylor, and Vincent Gallo.

The word "dream" comes up at least a dozen times in this movie, characters recounting dreams, or the film seamlessly showing them on screen, and appropriately it begins with a ten minute dream sequence(You only know it's a dream sequence because you're told it is afterwards), of an Eskimo in the snowy wilderness, catching a strange fish with both eyes on the same side, the Eskimo later becomes sick and is nursed back to health by his wife. From there we meet the dreamer Depp, who tags fish in New York, a job he loves because, "Most people think I count fish, but I don't. I look at them. I look at their souls and read their dreams and then I let them into my dreams." Then aspiring actor cousin Vinccent Gallo shows up, and asks Depp to come back to Arizona with him for his Uncle Jerry Lewis's wedding. Depp goes back and accepts a job selling Cadillacs, his uncles dream for them, until he meets an eccentric mother/daughter pair, the suicidal turtle obsessed accordion playing Lili Taylor and her vivacious, flighty, sexually aggressive mother, the latter Depp becomes immediately enamored with. Depp and Dunaway begin a very matter of fact and all consuming relationship (he leaves his job and uncles house and refuses to leave). After hearing of Dunaway's dreams to fly as a young girl, Depp decides and spends most of the movie, attempting to build her a flying machine. Meanwhile, Lili Taylor is sabotaging the machine, and Vincent Gallo is busy practicing his acting chops (his recreation of the crop duster scene from North By Northwest is one of the best all time comedy moments anywhere).

All good performances, Gallo and Taylor, outshining the others though. The writing is also really good, mostly voice over by Depp, it definitely has a Jean Piere Jeaunut vibe (all the little details and phrases) "My dad always said that work was like a hat you put on your head. And even if you didn't have pants , you didn't have to walk down the street ashamed of your ass as long as you had a hat... " or " what's the point of breathing if somebody already tells you the difference between an apple and a bicycle? If I bite a bicycle and ride an apple, then I'll know the difference." The latter quote sums of the naiveté of the main character and the flaw that makes the tragedy. Depps relationships are passionate, sincere, but essentially child like, he doesn't know what to name how he fells about Dunaway so it must be "love". While Dunaway and her daughter are more two halves of the same person, stuck in an isolated country house, both with half the maturity and vitality the other needs.

For the most part the movie is all comic smiles, and surreal shots of fish flying in the sky at random, but towards the end, the film takes somber tones, as the dream/relationships end.

Not as dense and surreal as I had expected, but it does capture accurately the magical sensation of first love, especially with someone significantly older (without stepping on the toes of similar films like Harold And Maud or focusing too heavily on taboo).

There were a few moments of emotional disconnect where the characters actions make little if any literal sense (the Russian roulette scene), but do give a greater sense of the contradictory emotions which almost all of the characters deal with, except Gallo, whose clearly just there for fun.

Arizona Dream caught me off guard, the political allegory of Underground is replaced here with a very internal story of dreamy sensations, fleeting passions, conflicting dreams, conflicting loves, growing up, and magical fish. It's not great, but I definitely connected for personal reasons. If you liked Amelie, or Emir Kusturica, or any of the actors mentioned it's worth checking out.

alright, i have a question for you guys:what is with the dog theme? i was watching the movie and i noticed that there are many scenes where there is a dog around and it is often barking or it is just there. It seems to me that all the time there's a dog hanging around. Does it show something like the existence of dreams or anything? does it symbolize anything or is it just... there?! I also want to know what exactly the dreams Axel has mean. For example when the fish he sees goes and bangs staff around, like the cars or that thing he builds for her to fly. what does it symbolize (if it symbolizes anything).(i'm supposed to write a minimum of 10 lines so i will just write staff for a while. Don't pay attention to the contents of this bracket and just try to read what i wrote on top. Thank you very much)