Brilliance in filmmaking

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 1998)

Ran... Kurosawa's modern masterpiece. All who thought that this "old man" didn't have it in him anymore were all proved wrong with this film that truly should be regarded as one of the best films ever made.
In Ran, Kurosawa again remade one of Shakespeare's classics in a feudal Japanese setting. This time the story is Shakespeare's King Lear. Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) is an ageing warlord who decides to divide his kingdom into three parts and pass it onto his three sons. The older two agree to this offer, but the youngest one thinks his father is mad, and doesn't realize that soon the sons will soon be fighting amongst each other for power of the kingdom. The chain of events that follow will drastically change the kingdom of Hidetora forever. Ran is one of the most captivating, beautifully filmed masterpieces since movies started to be made in color. This could quite possibly be Kurosawa's best film since The Seven Samurai was made more than 30 years earlier. Fans of great cinema should not miss Ran, a truly remarkable film on all levels.