An Ambitious Showcase Of Power, Greed, Betrayal, Retribution & Insanity

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2017)

A period epic brought to life in exhausting detail, Akira Kurosawa's Ran is a splendidly crafted tale of power, corruption, treachery, vengeance & insanity and is efficiently realised on the film canvas with its meticulous set pieces, sweeping camera-work & committed performances but its overlong runtime & glacial pace may not go well with everyone.
The story of Ran follows a powerful but elderly warlord who hands over his vast empire to his three sons after choosing to retire. Expecting his sons to maintain harmony amongst themselves & keep the kingdom united, he vastly underestimates the corrupting nature of power he had just bestowed upon them and haplessly watches them turn on each other as well as him.
Co-written, edited & directed by Akira Kurosawa, Ran is an ambitious production by all means and Kurosawa leaves no stone unturned to recreate the era his narrative is set in. Making effective use of colour palette, long-shot photography, vast landscapes, period-specific costumes & extensive list of extras, it delivers as an epic but what benefits it most is the strong foundation in the script.
Despite all the chaos brewing in the kingdom, Ran is mainly about the downfall of a once mighty king and covers his descent into madness. Taking inspiration from Shakespeare's play, it weaves an original storyline that's quite interesting and its central character's arc is just as compelling but the slow pace at which its plot unfurls and the many meanderings in the middle does make it a difficult sit at times.
Coming to the acting department, the entire cast delivers sincere performances and play their part responsibly, with Tatsuya Nakadai impressing the most as the elderly warlord in what's a powerfully gripping & highly expressive rendering that nearly overshadows the input of the rest of the actors. Also worthy of mention is its background score that brims with a haunting vibe and aptly captures the film's somber mood.
On an overall scale, Ran is a competently directed, deftly written, expertly layered, elegantly shot & brilliantly performed cinema that does many things right over the course of its 162 mins runtime but is still not without its shortcomings. There are moments in it that linger on for too long and the dull pace, even if it is deliberate, doesn't help its cause either. All in all, Akira Kurosawa's last epic is an ambitious showcase of power & madness but it isn't as rewarding as I expected it to be.