Ran

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2013)

From Oscar nominated director Akira Kurosawa (Ikiru, Dersu Uzala), this Japanese film in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die was one I had heard the title of plenty of times and was really looking forward to watching. Basically the story is a reworking of the William Shakespeare tragedy King Lear, and it begins with the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) stepping aside as leader of his people and giving control of the empire to his three sons Taro Takatora (Akira Terao), Jiro Masatora (Jinpachi Nezu) and Saburo Naotora (Daisuke Ryû). The three songs are all have youth on their side to rule the kingdom, the eldest Taro is given the prestigious First Castle, while Jiro and Saburo settle for Second and Third Castles, and the Lord only wishes to be an honoured guest in these three castles for the continuing years of his life. The two older sons make their father happy, but the youngest may want to cause arguments by warning his father that the uniting of the three brothers to have control will not remain united after some time. Enraged by this the father banishes the young son for pointing out this potential danger, however the warning does come to pass when the oldest son plots with his remaining brother to take everything from their father. With all this going on a war is declared and battles are fought, the formerly powerful Lord Ichimonji is stripped of his former glory to the point where he may die, murders are committed within the closest family and friends, and in the end is only a bad ending for the particular characters. Also starring Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede, Hisashi Igawa as Shuri Kurogane, Masayuki Yui as Tango Hirayama and Yoshiko Miyazaki as Lady Sue. The story was just about easy to understand, I admit the first half an hour or so was the most interesting, but the rest had some interesting moments, the costumes were absolutely deserving of an award, and the battle sequences are great to watch, although I drifted in tiny moments I know overall it is a great epic drama. It won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Cinematography, it won the BAFTAs for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Make Up Artist, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Very good!