10 Best Musical Interludes In Movies That Aren't Musicals

10. Funeral Song In Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

still_dreams_funeral_video Dreams is a kaleidoscopic and surreal film, territories the exacting Kurosawa rarely ventured into. A series of vignettes all prefaced with a title card reading "Another dream..." it can be gleaned that the dreams of the film encompass the life of a man from his youth to his old age. The dreams change in scope as the boy grows up into a man: the boy dreams of the ghosts of dead peach trees satisfying his wish to see them alive once more, the man dreams of the dead men in his platoon and an oncoming nuclear holocaust that could threaten his family. Every sequence but the final one deals with the supernatural, ghosts and demons, incomplete souls and marital foxes (if you've seen the movie, that kind of makes sense). Dreams should be seen for the sequence in which Martin Scorsese plays Vincent van Gogh (and the protagonist ventures through the worlds of his paintings), but should be remembered for the last sequence. The fear of death permeates the film, it is something to be avoided at all costs, but the final dream shows the protagonist seemingly coming to terms with death. While Kurosawa uses a wise old man to decry newfangled technology, it depicts a world at peace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptEowkL4gXU The marching procession which closes out the film seems more like a wedding celebration than a funeral. The upbeat song is accompanied by brass and bells, children throwing flower petals, and different chants for the men and women (the song even calls to mind the Isley Brothers Shout, a little bit softer now, and a little bit softer now). Whereas death looms ominously over the film in the earlier segments, a shadowy specter in an increasingly dark world, death is finally shown as a natural part of life. The film is nicely tied together in this wonderful musical sequence.
Contributor

Bryan Hickman is a WhatCulture contributor residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Bryan's passions include film, television, basketball, and writing about himself in the third person.