Kurosawa is truly a legend

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2007)

Kurosawa truly does deserve his place amongst the directors of legend, if only for this movie. An adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, it follows the story of an elderly lord abdicating his power to his three sons, the youngest of which warns him of inevitable treachery that eventually becomes a reality. The sheer amount of work and emotion Kurosawa put into the film is evident from the very beginning, Mieko Harada delivers an absolutely stunning surprise performance as Lady Kaede, going from being another simple shadow character to bearing the teeth of the entire film. From the epic battle scene to Kurosawa's remark on the human condition, and the remarkable performances by Harada and and Nakadai, everything feels deliberately and flawlessly executed.