Plays on an epic scale but is driven by the hearts of the characters

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2008)

Lord Hidetora announces his plans to step down as Lord of his lands and, whilst he does keep title and men, all will pass to his eldest son, with his younger two sons each taking control of the second and third castle. Youngest son Saburo derides his foolishness, claiming that this will split the kingdom and that natural divisions will rise up, but he is dismissed by all and banished by Hidetora for his dissent. So the change begins and internal wrangling occur immediately with Taro's wife Kaede stirring up ill feelings in him against his father.
The things about mediocre films is that often they are easiest to watch and so often I pick them over more interesting fare simply because it seems like the easiest thing to do. So-so films offer you little but conspire to take little from you other than time. So I regularly find myself in a position where I have seen lots of films but yet cannot comment on some that are considered classic. Recently I was in Paris for a week break and stumbled upon a showing of paintings and sketches by Akira Kurosawa and, having been watching some of his black and white films of late I paid my money and went in. The paintings were mostly designs for his films and yet again I found myself wondering why I had not seen these films even though I knew of them and had read about them on lots of critic's list. LoveFilm helped me again by supplying Ran off my list a few months later and I'll be honest and say it sat for a few weeks in favour of lesser stuff.
Finally seeing it I regret leaving it so long because it is a great film that paints on an epic scale as a clan collapses on itself but still manages to tell the story at a personal level of the corrupted and the corrupters. Unmistakably King Lear in construct, the film is engaging throughout as we have battles and treachery all around but yet the descent into madness of the Lord is still an interesting section to the film, as is the treachery and bitter hate of Lady Kaede. It is a fascinating tale and one that benefits from the richness that Kurosawa is able to give it. His use of open landscapes and convincing period locations adds quality to the film and the whole thing is shot with a great eye for beauty and colour  credit to the cinematographer. The script is functional at times but mostly we have real characters portrayed, which makes the film more engaging as they betray and are in turn betrayed. The cast use this very well but a couple of performances do stand out. Nakadai will appear a bit overdone to Western eyes in his heavy white make-up but this must be accepted in the way it is done, which is a cultural reference. Behind this though his performance is great as he starts powerful and wise but falls through rage into madness. It is a powerful theme of the film that part of his fall is a recognition of what he himself has done in the past and how that is coming for him whether real or imagined. Harada is the second turn that sticks in the mind as she is sly evil personified; not the most subtle of characters perhaps (I preferred the similar character in Throne of Blood) but she dominates her scenes and is quite intimidating as a screen presence due to how well her ruthlessness comes over. The sons are all well played in different ways with Terao, Nezu and Ryu all having different types of material to show what they do. I liked the fool played by Ikehata and how the script used him opposite the Lord and the massive supporting cast of generals and extras are all convincing and stout.
Ran does have a hard time going for it in regards modern audiences; not only is it subtitled and over twenty years old but it is also a rough adaptation of Shakespeare  not really anything that a MTV viewer will jump at. However it is worth the jump because it is a great film with consistently interesting themes, strong performances, great direction and a story that runs in the hearts of the characters but is played out on an impressively epic scale. Well worth seeking out and another reason why Kurosawa has the reputation that he does.