MOVIES - May 11, 1990

Downbeat Cannes: The 43rd Cannes film festival opened on a somber note Thursday night with Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams,” an exploration of the famed Japanese director’s hopes, fears and premonitions of death. Fear was the key to the eight dream sequences that comprised the 80-year-old artist’s 28th and most personal film. It is already being spoken of as Kurosawa’s last testament. But Kurosawa made it clear he was not finished yet, saying he hoped eventually to be able to film three dreams omitted from the original work because of expensive special effects required.