@FirstAscent
If you like his other films you are going to love Dreams. It is vaguely autobiographical and based on real dreams he had. Different kinds of dreams are explored as well. From a child's dream to a hypothermia induced hallucination.
I definitely have
Dreams on my list. What other films have you seen by him?
I remember:
Seven Samurai
Rashomon
Ran
and Kagemusha.
I think that is all of his work I have seen. Sometime the sub-titles can be distracting in the work of such a visual director, but i found some of his films do not have a lot of dialog anyway.
Those four films provide two interesting branches to explore. The first two prominently feature Toshiro Mifune. The second two prominently feature Tatsuya Nakadai.
If you liked Toshiro Mifune in the first two, then not only should you explore the other Kurosawa films which star him, but a few other non Kurosawa films. You should absolutely watch The Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, comprised of the following three titles:
Samurai I: Musashi MiyamotoSamurai II: Duel at Ichijoji TempleSamurai III: Duel at Ganryu IslandI absolutely loved those three films. In addition to Toshiro Mifune, they also star Mariko Okada (more on her later). Such lush color and epic plotting. You can find their respective links at Criterion's Toshiro Mifune's page:
http://www.criterion.com/explore/157-toshiro-mifuneAs for Tatsuya Nakadai, he's been in some of my favorite films. Perhaps the most epic is Masaki Kobayashi's
The Human Condition, which is essentially a nine and half hour film split into three films. It's basically one man's tour (an war protestor and humanist) through WWII and Japan's military machine during Japan's occupation of Manchuria. Epic.
He was also in Hiroshi Teshigahara's
The Face of Another, which is a semi science fiction existentialist film which explores one's identity within society. Fantastic film. Here's a trailer to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa6BitYbhZUHere's a lovely scene which takes place in a bar from the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjb44VhZzx4 He was also in Mikio Naruse's
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs as a supporting actor. It's really Hideko Takamine's star power which makes that film so great.
Criterion also just released an Eclipse set featuring four of Masaki Kobayashi's earlier films. Three of the four star Tatsuya Nakadai. See it here:
http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/952-eclipse-series-38-masaki-kobayashi-against-the-system Find more films starring Tatsuya Nakadai on his Explore page at Criterion:
http://www.criterion.com/explore/195-tatsuya-nakadai