The most terrible image ever imagined

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2003)

****ATTENTION: SPOILERS*****
A rendition of Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran is an extremely imaginative and well-crafted adaptation and an impressive cinematographic experience.
Regarding the plot, Ran it's pretty similar to Lear although it's even more morally ambiguous than it's original source as Lord Ichimonji's 'good' son is neither so sweet nor so loyal as Shakespeare's Cordelia. In his way he is as brutal as his brothers although he is respectful and sincere to his father. The progression follows a terrible logic: greed leads to violence which leads to greater violence until it destroys everyone (all the main characters and most of the rest).
Regarding the technical aspects, the film is just GORGEOUS to watch: the cinematography, dresses, sets, locations... everything is astounding. And the music by great master Toru Takemitsu, though for the most part it's just unearthly noises made by woodwinds, strings and percussion, gets a deep, restrained, Mahlerian poignancy during the attack on the castle (compare it to Mahler's The Song of the Earth, final movement).
(**Attention: BIG spoiler**) But the very best part of the film is also its very worst: the ending, with the poor blind guy abandoned (her sister just been killed) on the edge of an immense cliff, surrounded by emptiness and with just his stick between him and the most probable death... it's just more than I can stand. The most terrible but beautiful image ever imagined to portray human condition in a cruel world.