GRADE: B+

Sometimes in life, you just get knocked off course. Knowing you are, you try to convince yourself that you’ll regain your original heading, but in the back of your mind, you know it isn’t true. You begin to rationalize, and eventually the rationalizations take on the form of your normal perspective.

It’s hardly an uncommon scenario, and it’s precisely what happens to young Axel Blackmer and other select characters in director Emir Kusturica’s thoroughly original mixture of dreamlike drama, comedy and suspense; a quirky, quixotic and occasionally kinky entry very much in the same league with films such as “The Hanging Garden,” “Heavenly Creatures” and “Queen of Hearts.”

Viewers will know they’re in for something truly different when a film that takes place primarily at a Cadillac auto dealership in Arizona starts out on the frozen tundra of Alaska, where an Eskimo fights a desperate battle against the unforgiving elements in order to provide food for his family.

That unlikely beginning leads to some interesting parables concerning fish and the film’s chief protagonist, Axel, who works for the Fish & Wildlife Service in New York. A visit from longtime friend (and dealership employee) Paul brings an appeal from Axel’s uncle (the dealership’s owner) to attend his wedding in Arizona, which leads to his meeting Elaine Stalker and her stepdaughter, Grace.

What winds up happening after these five off-kilter characters are thrown together is a remarkable exercise in parable and performance. Those performances include Johnny Depp as Axel in an early show of his distinct personality and acting range; Jerry Lewis as his uncle, proving again his great depth and feeling for drama; Faye Dunaway as Elaine, who strikes just the right notes in a difficult and demanding part; Lili Taylor as Grace, whose displays of pain and torment seem all too real; and Vincent Gallo as Paul, who nearly steals the picture with a brilliant seriocomic interpretation.

“Arizona Dream” is a film where heroic dogs appear and reappear; where stories that are told just right can make people fly; where nightmares can become beautiful and dreams deadly. Here is a film dripping in image and montage thanks to the fine work of cinematographer Vilko Filac; a film full of humor, pathos and joy thanks to David Atkins terrific original story and screenplay; a film that manages to both defy and embrace cultural and cinematic conventions to create a world within a world on its own whacky terms.

To relate details or any plot mechanics would be to spoil much of the enchantment “Arizona Dream” portends. One thing’s for sure—love it or hate it, it will forever change your memory of Cary Grant’s famous run-in with a crop duster!

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