Eleven Arts: Shion Sono's INTO A DREAM (YUME NO NAKA E), w/ Tetsushi Tanaka, Yûna Natsuo, Jun Murakami, Joe Odagiri, Miwako Ichikawa, Ryô Iwamatsu, Akaji Maro, Yôichi Nukumizu, Tôru Tezuka, Rena Komine, et al.

Here's a synopsis for Into a Dream from Eleven Arts' website: "Suzuki Mutsugoro - a talentless actor - and Taeko are living together. The two had been actors in the same theatre troupe, but Takeo had fallen in love with him and quit the theatre to begin their life together. However, after ten years he still has not taken a single break from acting, and she is growing tired of him. ¶ Mutsugoro is in love with Ranko, an acress from a third-rate theatre group. Ranko, meanwhile, is involved with the group's leader, Machida, who does not think well of her relationship with Mutsugoro. ¶ On a day like any other, Mutsugoro has come to the theatre practice for his next scene. The director of the play is humming the Inoue Yousui tune 'Into a Dream' as if it were a monologue. Nobody thinks that the scene will go well. As he walks in, Mutsugoro has an accident - he has pain when he urines. It quickly dawns on him that he might have a sexually-transmitted disease. The face of two women float before the philanderer's eyes: Ranko, and one other actress. Which is it, he wonders? Mutsugoro calls his friend Keiji to ask what he thinks, but Keiji has no idea, either. Later, he walks into the restroom with another member of Ranko's theatre troupe and notices that the other man looks in pain when he tries to urinate. The incident makes him suspicious of Ranko, so he confronts her about it when the two of them are alone together. However, she angrily turns him away, driving him out of the room. ¶ When Mutsugoro returns home, Taeko is packing her things and about to leave him. ¶ After a long, hectic day Mutsugoro collapses into a deep sleep, and in his dreams has an unexpected vision of himself as a terrorist. The terrorist Mutsugoro has a bloodstained bullet wound in his shoulder, and his friends Yuji and Keiji, and even Taeko - who all appear to be terrorists as well - are there attempting to save him. When he awakes from this nightmare, Mutsugoro examines his surroundings. He sees his father, a terrifying man, and for some reason the theatre director is there as well. They yell at him as if they are conducting some sort of investigation, but he has no idea what it is about. ¶ When Mutsugoro opens his eyes again, Taeko is gone. She has left him, and is staying at a friend's house. ¶ Mutsugoro, looking for an excuse to leave Tokyo, decides to attend a class reunion. His father had also strongly requested that he return home every once in a while. ¶ Riding on the train back to his parents' home, Mutsugoro has more and more dreams - terrorist dreams, dreams where he is being investigated. In all of them, the people from his hometown have become either detectives or fellow terrorists. He gradually becomes eaten away by his nightmares. In one, he speaks to Taeko, who is also a terrorist, and tells her, 'Today, I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that I was a terrible actor, and I was living with you.' In another, he is mobbed by a strange man and woman. Eventually, he becomes unable to differentiate between his dreams and reality. ¶ When he arrives home, Mutsugoro revives his friendships with Yuji and Keiji, and sees his father and younger sister for the first time in many years. But on the night of his class reunion, everything erupts. He becomes filled with a burning hatred for the life he has lived until now. His dream self declares an end to everything, and flees shouting from the reunion. ¶ Mutsugoro continues screaming down the evening road, singing 'Into a Dream' as he runs."

Sono's other directing credits include the story "Otona ni nattara" in the omnibus movie No-Pants Girls - Movie Box-ing2 (Nô-pantsu gâruzu - Movie Box-ing2), Hazard - a.k.a. "Hazâdo" - Strange Circus (Kimyô na sâkasu), Noriko's Dinner Table (Noriko no shokutaku), and Suicide Circle (Jisatsu sâkuru) - a.k.a. "Suicide Club".

Into a Dream trailer (streaming Windows Media)
Into a Dream trailer (downloadable 5.4 MB ASF file)
Into a Dream official subsite
Eleven Arts: Into a Dream
No-Pants Girls - Movie Box-ing2 trailer (downloadable 7.9 MB WMV file)
No-Pants Girls - Movie Box-ing2 official subsite
Hazard trailer (in English; downloadable 2.8 MB MOV file)
Hazard official website
Eleven Arts: Hazard
Strange Circus trailer (downloadable 14.4 MB WMV file)
Noriko's Dinner Table trailer #2 (downloadable 14 MB MOV file)
Noriko's Dinner Table trailer #1 (English subtitled; downloadable 4.4 MB MOV file)
Noriko's Dinner Table official website
Eleven Arts: Noriko's Dinner Table
GOMORRAHY.com: Trailer Park subsite