Review of Ran (1985) by Samuel J — 20 Jun 2009

"Men prefer sorrow over joy... suffering over peace!".

Director: Akira Kurosawa.

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko Harada, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu.

Running time: 160 minutes.

Country: Japan.

Ran is a very heartfelt, impactful, experiencing and even quite a shocking motion picture that is made by a legendary filmmaker. Ran is a real epic story that is typical of the language spoken and the same with the settings, cinematography, costumes and make-up within the nation of where it was filmed as well as the epic genre. I was blown away by how good each of those filming qualities was. I think this film is adapted from Shakespeare's famous play King Lear. It isn't a directed adaptation of the play but it is the closest it can be. This film is an epic that it very action-packed and is filled with raw emotion. My DVD I have at home of it is a 12A/PG-13 DVD and I cannot believe it was either a 15/R or 18/R-17 because it was a very gruesome and graphic story. The blood isn't that real but you can just imagine how hard the arrows and the swords hit the people. It is a bit like Sweeney Todd blood but that blood was more realistic. Some unrealistic effects aren't always bad, they can make a film a classic in which Ran definitely is. I loved the action scene where Hidertora's palace and his people were attacked.

The acting was good from Tatsya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji. Hidetora is an aging warlord who after spending his life consolidating his empire, decides to abdicate and divide his Kingdom amongst his three sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo. Hidetora is like a film interpretation of King Lear apart from that King Lear has three daughters not three sons. I have never read the King Lear novel nor seen any film adaptations from the play. The performances were all just awesome that were all typical epic kinds of characters.

Akira Kurosawa was an director who was one of the few experts in the old days where people were classic epic filmmakers. I can only think of Kurosawa and the late David Lean. Kurosawa's determination towards his epic films including Ran was very experiencing. Kurosawa's 39-year wife died during the production of Ran but carried on filming about a day after mourning of her death. Kurosawa's epic style made this one very similar to The Seven Samurai but not as good as that though. The script was good with such powerful and thought-provoking moments because of the heartbreaking betrayal and also of the other events that occur within Ran. Ran is one of the best epic films of the 1980s without a doubt.

It isn't my favourite Akira Kurosawa film. I do still really like The Seven Samurai more. Ran is a film that is mixed into different kinds of genres with the way it was filmed and what kind of qualities it had. It is an absolutely typical film of the nation it is in. The Japanese and Chinese do very similar sorts of films regarding similar sorts of plots and this is one of the best of those films definitely. Ran is probably Akira Kurosawa's most underrated films especially when it is one of his most hardworking motion pictures that he ever did. Kurosawa and Lean are the masters of epic films. Masterpiece!!