Review of Ran (1985) by Jack L — 05 Sep 2010

In my opinion Ran is Kurosawa's masterpiece and one of the best films ever made. It is also one of my top 5 favourite films and will probably be for a long time.

It is one of the rare films that succeeds in every possible way and watching it is a very powerful experience. Ran works equally well as a family drama, a period piece, an anti-war film, there are elements of comedy, romance and revenge. For me it is the definition of an Epic film.

Ran means Chaos, it is loosely based on Shakespeare's play King Lear, an ageing warlord named Hidetora Ichimonji retires and divides his kingdom between his three sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo. Chaos, War and Tragedy ensue.

With this film Kurosawa proves to have been one of the greatest film makers to have lived, but he also proves to be an exceptional artist, this film is a work of art.

The direction and cinematography are exceptional and astounding, every single shot is flawless, the colours are vibrant and powerful, the locations are breathtaking, the editing is very smooth, almost imperceptible. I liked the way he filmed the action sequences, he stays quite aloof from the action instead of getting up too close as is the trend these days, thus it has more of an impact and is much more comprehensible.

Kurosawa spent 10 years painting each shot of this film before even beginning filming, and it shows. I don't think such a beautiful film has ever been made or will ever be made again.

The scale of it all is beyond belief; he built the Third Castle on the slopes of Mount Fiji only to burn it down in one of the finest scenes in the film. He ordered thousands of suits of armour, weapons and horses, He used over 1,400 extras. The film cost the equivalent of 12 million dollars, it was the most expensive Japanese film to be made at the time.

Several scenes stand out throughout the film but I would say the most brilliant is the attack on the Third Castle, such a powerful scene that shows the horrors of war better than any modern war film. Hidetora's descent into insanity during that horrific scene is amazing to watch and his silent walk away from the burning castle is haunting.

Other scenes that really amazed me were the whole battle scenes between Jiro's forces and Saburo's, the scene in Tsurumaru's hovel and the final shot.

The acting was brilliant from the whole cast, I can't think of any one actor who diminished the brilliance of the film, on the contrary they enhanced it especially Tatsuya Nakadai who plays the Warlord Hiderota and whose performance is crucial to the film as well as being one of the best I've seen. The whole cast really became their characters and seemed at perfect ease in the time they were depicting, probably because of the excellent costume design.

The characters were all well developed and all had a purpose, I think a lot of work was put into them. Even those will smaller roles were interesting, but there are some who are fascinating to watch, such as Hidetora, his change throughout the film is quite remarkable, he goes from being a rather proud, pompous unlikeable man to a man who has lost his mind to a man who has discovered himself and wants forgiveness for his sins. Another character that is interesting to watch is the "fool" Kyoami who at first seems rather insignificant but later becomes one of the main characters and is very important for his role in the events that take place.

I liked the fact that each character was easily identifiable, on previous Kurosawa films I have sometimes been confused to who some characters were exactly, but in Ran it?s much clearer.

The soundtrack is interesting, I can't say I like it but I don't really think it was meant to be enjoyable or even likeable. I think it evokes the main theme of the film which is Chaos perfectly so in my opinion it succeeds at what it was intended for.

Well I think I?ve said enough about the technical aspects of the film and the various qualities, so I think I?ll say a bit about the themes and the overall message of the film which is very important.

One theme that is ever present and mostly quite dominant is that of Chaos, the events are chaotic and unpredictable; often moments of calm are quickly destroyed by moments of violence all of which are sudden.

The absence of religion is also a sign of the Chaos, the only religious character is Lady Sue and her fate is tragic, when the fool Kyoami curses the gods Tango replies that the gods cannot save them from themselves. The gods play no part in this film, it only shows the cruelty of man.

The strong theme of nihilism is present especially towards the end, Saburo?s death just as victory was attained, the murder of lady Sue just when you thought the bloodshed was over, the fate of Tsurumaru...

I thought the way Kurosawa used Tsurumaru standing alone and blind on top of a ruined castle with an image of Buddha that he dropped lying in the darkness to be very powerful and very clear; Kurosawa was showing modern mans condition.

The way good characters are slain pointlessly such as Saburo and Lady Sue and the way evil characters continue to do their evil deeds until they meet violent ends such as Jiro and Lady Kaede is quite depressing, Ran is easily one of Kurosawa?s darker works, it doesn?t contain such deeds of heroism as the Seven Samourai, instead heroic men are treacherously gunned down by faceless enemies.

Kurosawa made this film at a very difficult period of his life, he was going blind, he had attempted suicide and his wife died during production. But he continued work relentlessly and ended up with one of the finest and most powerful films ever made, and I admire him greatly for that.

If you haven?t seen this film then delay no longer, it is essential viewing although grim and dark in tone it will not leave you unaffected. But if you are like the people I have seen give bad reviews to this film because it was too long or too boring then I suggest you stay away from it and be content with latest Hollywood Blockbuster.