The last great film of Kurosawa

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2020)

"Ran" was made by Kurosawa when he was already 75 years old. It is his last great film.
Kurosawa had a long career, but it was interspersed with difficult periods of "writers block". Therefore finding funding for his films was noy always easy, especially in the second half of his career. "Dersu Uzala" (1975) was financed with Russian money and "Ran" (1985) with French money.
From the three great Japanese directors after the Second World War (Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa) Kurosawa was the most Western one. The cultural influence went in both directions. Kurosawa had an influence on Western filmmaking. "The magnificent seven" (1960, John Sturges) was a remake of "Seven Samurai" (1954, Akira Kurosawa). On the other hand Kurosawa was inspired by Western literature, most notably by Shakespeare. Stange as it may sound Kurosawa is one of the most prominent Shakespeare adapters under the film directors. He brought MacBeth ("Throne of blood", 1957), Hamlet ("The bad sleep well", 1960) and King Lear ("Ran", 1985) to the screen.
King Lear is a pessimistic story in which a father is cheated by his elder sons. Only his youngest son remains faithful to him. In "Ran" the difference is visualised in the landscape. When the father is with his youngest son, the landscape is green. When the father is with the other sons, the landscape is black and consists of a volcanic type of sand. This black landscape is ideal for the fighting scenes because it provides a perfect background for the colorful banners of the different armies.
The last scene is mindbogling but also not easy to forget. A blind man is all on his own, staying on the edge of a cliff. In essence he can't make another step.