Everyone has their reasons - Kurosawa revisits Shakespeare

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2016)

It is not uncommon for an artist's output to wane a little in age. Not so with Akira Kurosawa. Even in his late period, his work continued to be inspired and masterful. Ran (1985) is the most regarded of these late works, a ravishingly beautiful and yet bleak adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear.
The Noh-influenced performances and choice to transpose Willy Shakes to 16th century Japan recall Kurosawa's earlier Throne of Blood (1958), which told the story of Macbeth; however, this film is far more downbeat. In Throne of Blood, the tyrant-protagonist is taken down by the people. Though the cycle of violence will go on as long as greed and ambition live within mankind, there is hope that they will always be taken down. But here? Ran is so much more tragic in its view of people and the human condition.
As Renoir once said, everyone has their reasons. Here, there really aren't any white or black hats. The treacherous Lady Kaede is a victim of Lord Hideotara, who had killed her entire family. The tragic Hideotora has killed many innocents in his quest for power, yet we still pity his fate and ultimate inability to live peacefully with his sons in his advanced years.
From the boar hunt in the beginning to the film's haunting closing image of the blind man on the edge of a cliff, Ran is a nearly three hour movie that doesn't feel its length for a moment. It is perhaps Kurosawa's final bonafide masterpiece, but that is arguable. It's much harder to argue this one is anything less than great.