To Sleep so as to Dream

To Sleep so as to Dream is the first film by Japanese director Kaizo Hayashi and it’s a knockout. Sometime in the late 50’s, an ageing actress from the silent film era hires a detective to rescue her kidnapped daughter. What she is really searching for is her lost youth and the unknown outcome of her first film, `Eternal Mystery’. It was never completed because of a puritanical backlash against women playing women’s roles. Moving back and forth between the 20’s and 50’s, from silent to sound, this is one of the most original films in years: a detective story with a really satisfying ending.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view on-site.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Kaizo Hayashi

Duration

01:21:00:00

Production places

Japan

Production dates

1986

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

300528

Language

Japanese

Audience classification

PG

Subject categories

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Detective and mystery films

Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Kidnapping

Experimental

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Japan

Foreign language films

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/79573--to-sleep-so-as-to-dream/ |title=To Sleep so as to Dream |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=29 June 2022 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Japan, 1986