Arizona Dream
Tags: comedy, cult, magical realism, absurd, psychedelic, philosophical, romantic

Plot synopsis:
Axel (Johnny Depp) has a dream about an Eskimo who catches a rare halibut and brings it back to his family in an igloo. Axel's cousin Paul (Vincent Gallo) coaxes Axel from his job tagging fish in New York City to Arizona to attend his uncle Leo's (Jerry Lewis) trophy wedding to a much younger woman (Paulina Porizkova). His uncle tries to persuade him to stay permanently and take over the family business of selling Cadillacs. Axel resists at first, but he decides to give it a try.
Axel encounters two strange women: Elaine (Faye Dunaway), a woman who always had a dream of building a flying machine, and her stepdaughter Grace (Lili Taylor), who is jealous of Elaine and dreams of killing herself and being reincarnated as a turtle. Axel starts lusting after Elaine and decides to help make her dreams come true. As he and Elaine build the machine day by day, Grace starts destroying the contraption. Axel then rebuilds. Leo and Paul arrive at Elaine and Grace's house to encourage Axel to come back, but Elaine threatens them with a shotgun. Axel and Elaine complete the machine and test it, but it crashes in a tree.
Axel then decides to put both Elaine and Grace out of their misery, but can not go through with it. Grace has the idea to play Russian Roulette with him. Axel is scared at first, but at his second turn he pulls the trigger multiple times. The gun does not fire. Axel, Elaine, and Grace come to Paul's talent show. He decides to play Cary Grant's role from North by Northwest with the famous crop duster scene. Paul receives the score of 1. Leo's fiancee then approaches them to say that there is something wrong with Leo. Axel realizes that Leo is dying and calls an ambulance but Leo passes away.
The day before Elaine's birthday a few months later, Axel and Paul finally come back to Elaine and Grace's house. Elaine is mad at Axel for not contacting her but forgives him. The next day on Elaine's birthday, Elaine is given an airplane as a present. The four celebrate Elaine's birthday by beating a piñata, but are interrupted by a storm. As the others dry off inside, Grace remains outside to free her turtles, telling them to "Go play," Axel goes upstairs with Grace to wrap the presents where she gives Axel a globe, telling him that she wants him to have the world. Axel tells Grace that Elaine has changed and that he is not in love with her any more. He makes a promise to Grace to go to Alaska.
Axel, Elaine, Grace, and Paul talk about the manners in which they want to die. Grace says that she is going to sleep and walks upstairs, dressing herself in a white shift and a hat with a veil. As she walks outside, Axel and Elaine see her through the window and run outside in an attempt to stop her. Grace shoots herself, and a lightning bolt destroys Elaine's airplane. Sometime after Grace's death Axel breaks into Uncle Leo's abandoned Cadillac store at night and goes to sleep on top of a Cadillac with a cat that has just had her litter. The film ends with Axel and Uncle Leo as Eskimos in Axel's dream. They catch the halibut and discuss it. It flies from their hands into the sunrise.

Review: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The film also enjoys superb acting from Johnny Depp, painfully young and handsome at his first major role after Edward Scissorhands, Faye Dunaway mature and yet so beautiful, and Jerry Lewis probably in his last great role.
Johnny Depp is great, Faye Dunaway is marvelous, Lili Taylor is like a genius here, Jerry Lewis is a Lord, as always, and Vincent Gallo shows his talent to a very high rate.
Perhaps it's best if I just stay away from films like "Arizona Dreams" altogether.
In this film Johnny Depp proves why he is a great and possibly the most underated actor in the U.S.A. along side Faye Dunaway who is creative and moving as his love interest.
Lili Taylor is also great in this one too, she steals some scenes in it as well, Vincent Gallo's best work that I've seen, he is actually funny in a dead pan type of way.
Emir Kusturica films dreams,dreamers and all the things that matter in life..
Serbian director Emir Kusturica is a real entertainer whose films not only have serious messages but also have the potential to make viewers happy.His American debut film Arizon Dream is pure magic.It is one of the most famous American films made with European sensibilities.What we get to see in the film is the possibility to have a bemused look at the difficult lives of innocent dreamers and their idiosyncratic dreams.The reason why this film succeeds is because of its powerful cast which includes the most influential artists of American cinema.There are great actors like Johnny Depp,Jerry Lewis,Faye Dunaway and Vincent Gallo.The best thing about this film is the exploration of all things American.This is the reason why we get to see our leading players watch a film by Alfred Hitchcock which they even try to imitate.The definition of love also seems to have changed with this film.This fact cannot be explained as this film would have to be seen to understand that.All in all,a great film which needs to be seen more than once..
This movie is kind of like across between watching a foreign film, one made in a culture completely alien to your own, and watching someone else's dreams.It is such an bizarre film that I doubt some people would even be able to get through it.
Arizona Dream, screenplay by David Atkins and directed by Emir Kusturica is an absurd comedy with a surreal outlook on the intermingling lives of some very unusual characters.
The movie follow the characters through their quirky encounters and relationships which may or may not be in its entirety a fishes dream, as the simultaneous flashes into a surreal world suggest.
It is a little too long, but if you liked O Lucky Man, the only comparable film I have ever seen, you will enjoy Arizona Dream..
Depp at his best (well, as in many other films).Also great performances by the other three main actors (Lili Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis).
The film, I suppose, if about anything, is about dreams: Depp's  dream of Alaska snd the Eskimos and their fish; the great grandfather's  dream of selling so many cars, that if stacked, they would be a pyramid  reaching the moon; Vincent Gallo's dream to be an actor (which sets  up for the only truly inspired moment in the film, his performance of  the crop duster scene from "North by Northwest" at a competition);  Elaine's dream of her flying machine, and so on...
when i saw this movie, i felt like flying...Letting my dreams run away in front of my eyes.The music is great.Johnny Depp is marvelous.(my favourite actor no doubt).I became more brave than i was.I realised that if you have a dream, a wish, you must do anything possible to make it come true.My advise:Watch this film twice or more to understand it.Axel is a very special young man with a special kind of vision above life, death and love.He is weird some way, he thinks that love will come true no matter what.Immature teenager you can say.But his love for Eleine is too strong.He said that if she wanted o spaceship to go in another galaxy he would be the one to build it.Axel(Johnny Depp) has a dream.His own storry about a fish..
In reality Lewis wants Depp to work for him as a Cadillac dealer along with Vincent Gallo who is also like a surrogate son.Pretty soon Depp is also involved with a mother/daughter pair of quirky sexual piranhas in Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor.
I'll admit the last half hour of the movie kind of falls apart, there are a few plot points that seem murky (like how the relationship between Depp and Faye Dunaway evolves), and the movie is definitely not a mass audience film.
The film starts with beautiful dream sequence that is discussed by the characters many times throughout the movie, also the elements from the dream that seem to be escaped into 'real' world carry much significance, but never feel distracting or out of place.
The surrealistic cinematic landscape is covered with fantastic music by Goran Bregovich, and of course superb performances by Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway supported by wonderful cast of Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor and Vincent Gallo.'Arizona Dream' might not be for everyone's taste, but it is one of the strangest great films of all times..
And I've got to speak for myself, the film is so hypnotic and enchanting that I can't imagine how it can ever be criticized, so this is a positive review, yes, because Hollywood is so dry on experiences like "Arizona Dream" that such movies deserve admiration.What's the story about?
It's a tale about fishes, or one fish actually, a fish and a young man named Axel (Johnny Depp) who has strange dreams involving Eskimos and again, fishes ...
Axel's uncle (Jerry Lewis) feels guilty for the loss of his nephew's parents and want him to work for him in his Cadillac-selling business, Elaine (Faye Dunaway) is a woman who dreams of flying, Paul (Vincent Gallo) wants to be an actor, Elaine's daughter Grace (Lily Taylor) a turtle.
Like a Kusturica movie, this film has a lot of music going on, a lot of accordion, a lot of dancing and loving, of passion and pathos, even jealousy and envy are powerfully conveyed by the performance of the two peripheral characters played by Taylor and Gallo, while Depp and Dunaway can abandon themselves in an ocean of lust and fully enjoy their romance until they learn to deal with the consequences.
How weird that you could feel the word "deep" in Depp and Faye Dunaway almost rhymes with "fly" and "runaway".And as a leitmotif, we have this flying fish caught earlier by an Eskimo who belongs to either a dream or a reality, to say that it makes the connection between the opening scene and the rest of the film or the rest of the film with the ending scene is beside the point, if there's any, yet, there's a feeling of completeness, the idea that sometimes, we all have a vision of what we should do and what shall become of us.
Kusturica is aware than he's privileged for making such movies, which would be impossible today.But he had this luck to come at Hollywood at the right time, the right moment, to have Johnny Depp before he became a supreme movie star, Faye Dunaway who was always "in" for ambitious projects ("Mommie Dearest" was a blessing in disguise as it allowed her to work in weird but fascinating movies like this or "Barfly") and Lewis, Gallo, Taylor complete the gallery of eccentric but appealing protagonists, I mentioned Fellini but there's something weirdly Hustonian in that bunch of dreaming misfits.And something unique about Kusturica, as usual....
Terrific cast (Johnny Depp,Faye Dunaway,Lili Taylor,Vincent Gallo and Jerry Lewis.) Beautiful cinematography.
Emir Kusturica and his unique style strike again with this amazing story of a young man (Johnny Depp) "kidnapped" from NY by his cousin (Vincent Gallo) and taken to Arizona to be the best man at his uncle's wedding.
Although the cast is desirable (Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway), the story is much too bizarre to follow.
Looking at the container, you may get a little befuddled by the cast - or just as easily take interest in it: Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Lili Taylor and Michael J.
Quirky does not necessarily mean good...A man, Axel (played by Johnny Depp), is driven from New York to Arizona by a friend to attend the wedding of his uncle (played by Jerry Lewis).
In actual fact, it is just plain annoying.Has a few good moments, but these are very few and far between.Good cast - Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor, Vincent Gallo - but wasted on a pointless script and "look at how arty I can be" direction.Pretentious nonsense..
Lili Taylor is one of my favourite actresses, so this film sounded like a dream come true, her and Depp in a movie, together, but it wasn't.
Yes, this movie helped for Johnny Depp, helped to grow up like an actor, helped for his career path, but only he can say why and how, because I can't understand.
Life can be hard work, especially when you try to make a living counting fish, like Johnny Depp's character Axel, or selling cars, like Leo Sweetie (Jerry Lewis) and Paul Leger (Vincent Gallo), or trying to fly, like Elaine Stalker (Faye Dunaway).
"Arizona Dream" is the first, and so far only, English-language, shot-in-America film of Emir Kusturica.
There was too much whining constantly in each characters and like we are seeing A - List celebrities Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp being involved in this!
I am really disappointed with this movie because I was so looking forward to seeing Jerry Lewis and Johnny Depp teaming up.