The Bard would be proud....

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2020)

This is one hell of an interpretation of William Shakespeare's "King Lear" told in a magnificently vivid, colourful fashion with grand scale cinematography, costumes and matchless battle scenes. It's a well trodden story of a Lord who, rather rashly as it transpires, surrenders his wealth and power to his children on the assumption that he will visit each in turn - on a rolling basis - and continue to live a life of state and grandeur. Readers of the original play will be aware that this not so cunning plan proves to have more flaws than Donald Trump's plans for Domestos; and his initially supportive two sons (as opposed to "Lear"'s daughters) renege and leave the old man abandoned and homeless; dependent on his third son - whom he banished in a fit of fury when he originally told his father that his plan was daft. Kurosawa combines the rigid formality of Japanese ceremonial existence and familial deference with the raw emotions of betrayal, conceit and desperation magnificently. It's a long film - it'a a long play - but well worth the concentration required to appreciate a cleverly nuanced telling of a visceral story.