Kurosawa's Last Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (1 September 2007)

This is an amazing film, the last masterpiece of one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. Kurosawa was a master of cross-cultural fusion, he started by doing very Japanese music that were re-made by the Western creators, then he took some of the great writers and playwrights themes and gave them a Japanese adaptation. 'Ran' (Chaos) is a perfect blend of the Shakespearean 'King Lear' with the Japanese samurai legends. It is both classical and Japanese, it is universal.
The film is of a visual beauty and complexity that words can hardly describe. Action scenes, costumes and the color palette are worked finely to the latest detail. The text has poetical beauty and moral strength and tells a world about wisdom and insanity, getting old and loving one's children, about death, love and treason, and above all about human madness. This is a creation not to be missed.