Ran
— Massive production that almost never got made.”
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Japan/France, 1985
It took a long time for Ran to get made, since veteran director Kurosawa had been all but written off by the Japanese film industry and was forced to search for foreign backing.
This film is one of the last in a filmmaking career spanning fifty years and Kurosawa suggested that the troubled protagonist resembled himself. That protagonist is Hidetora, an old warlord who makes the disastrous decision to divide his dominions between two of his sons. As such, Hidetora also resembles Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Ran (roughly translated as “Chaos”) is an epic of classic scale with strong themes. It is visually stunning, particularly in its use of colours and beautiful locations. However, much of the acting – in the style of Japanese Noh theatre – tends to subtract from the film for a Western audience used to more subtly emotive performances.
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