Ran Movie Review 1985

The culmination of Kurosawa's career stands as his masterpiece. Loosely adapting Shakespeare's "King Lear," with plot elements from "Macbeth," he's fashioned an epic, heartbreaking statement about honor, ambition, and the futility of war. Aging medieval warlord Hidetora gives control of his empire to his oldest son, creating conflict with two other sons. Soon he's an outcast, as ambition and greed seize the two sons. Stunning battle scenes illuminate the full-blown tragedy of Kurosawa's vision. Superb acting with a scene-stealing Harada as the revenge-minded Lady Kaede; period costumes took three years to create. Japanese with English subtitles.

Distribution

Home Vision Cinema, c/o Image Entertainment, 20525 Nordhoff St., Ste. 200, Chatsworth, CA 91311, URL: http://www.homevision.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 160 minutes.
Originally from Japanese, French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Adventure Drama, Adapted from a Play, Plays to Film: William Shakespeare, Ethics & Morals, Big Battles, Modern Shakespeare, Family Ties, Medieval Romps, Japan, Growing Older, Femme Fatale, Tragedy, 4 Bones

Screenplay

Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Meiko Harada, Hisashi Igawa, Peter, Kazuo Kato, Takeshi Kato, Jun Tazaki, Toshiya Ito, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Masayuki Yui, Norio Matsui, Takashi Nomura

Cinematography

Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saito, Masaharu Ueda

Director

Akira Kurosawa

Music

Toru Takemitsu

Producer

Serge Silberman, Masato Hara, Herald Ace

Awards

Oscars 1985: Costume Des.; British Acad. 1986: Foreign Film; L.A. Film Critics 1985: Foreign Film; Natl. Bd. of Review 1985: Director (Kurosawa); N.Y. Film Critics 1985: Foreign Film; Natl. Soc. Film Critics 1985: Cinematog., Film.