A peculiar and entrancing gem.
Arizona Dream (1994)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:12
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Johnny Depp is Axel, a New York fish tagger who claims to have the ability to listen to the fishes' dreams. One night, he is visited by his wannabe actor brother (Vincent Gallo) and told that his... Johnny Depp is Axel, a New York fish tagger who claims to have the ability to listen to the fishes' dreams. One night, he is visited by his wannabe actor brother (Vincent Gallo) and told that his uncle (Jerry Lewis) wants him as his best man in his wedding in Arizona. Axel grew up with his uncle, who owns a Cadillac dealership, and no longer likes him as much as he used to. He doesn't want to attend, but, in a film where suspension of disbelief is required most of the time, he is shanghaied by his brother and driven all the way to Arizona while in a drunken stupor. There, he falls for a wacky and lusty widow (Faye Dunaway), and later her daughter (Lili Taylor). There is much to like about this film; some scenes are pure genius and turn you on in a way that makes you want to stick with it through its many unsure moments. Some of the more brilliant set pieces include Gallo's recreation of the crop-dusting scene from NORTH BY NORTHWEST at an amateur night in a dusty old bar, and a dinner scene set to the music of Django Reinhardt where Taylor tries to commit suicide with a pair of panty hose. A vastly uneven film that sabotages itself at some key moments, but its highs are great enough to recommend it. [More]
Starring: Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor
Starring: Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor, Vincent Gallo, Paulina Porizkova
Director: Emir Kusturica
Director: Emir Kusturica
Screenwriter: David Atkins
Story: Emir Kusturica, David Atkins
Producer: Yves Marmion, Claudie Ossard
Reviews for Arizona Dream
The first 'American' film by the director of Time of the Gypsies is every bit as bizarre and imaginative as his earlier work, although it's also maddeningly indulgent and erratic.
Lewis is only slightly awful, and he and Depp have a nice rapport; Dunaway gives a particularly juicy performance; and Taylor is simply amazing, seemingly able to transform herself physically for every role she plays.
Kusturica grafts his sometimes unwieldy Europe-inflected concerns onto brash American landscapes with mixed results. Much is made of dreams that, either spoken of at length or illustrated, are offered in lieu of character development.
David Lynch, you've got a target on your back. Compelling and strange, worth seeking out if you can find it (which ain't easy).
Even at its full length, showing off a more seductive rhythm and the buoyant humanism that is this director's calling card, it remains as ripe a subject for therapy as for criticism.
Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway must enjoy working together. Perhaps they also enjoy making incomprehensibly inane movies, because that is what Arizona Dream is.
Depp yet again reveals his unique ability to be the seductive yet compassionate idealist, discovering strength in tenderness.
There is so much to like in Arizona Dream that you can't help wondering why you don't like it better.
Imagination is a gift. It bestows power, insight and the ability to dream. It takes courage to dream on a big scale, which is what Emir Kusturica does in Arizona Dream, a wonderfully absurdist comedy...
You can't stop watching because nobody in the audience, and possibly nobody on the screen, has any idea what's going to happen next.
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