An great addition to Kurosawa's body of work

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2008)

While I'm a fan of Kurosawa's work, I'm not necessarily one of Shakespeare's (that is to say, I don't like him at all). So when I found out that Ran was based off of Shakespeare's King Lear I was already having concerns, even though I had never read King Lear in depth . However, all concerns vanished once the film started.
All at once a tale about devotion, betrayal, war and most of all, family, Kurosawa's take on the story is epic yet intimate, all at once an outlook on three warring nations as well a look at the nature of sibling hood and fatherhood, of families broken, and of vengeance. Fantastic performances by the actors (including a deceptively incendiary performance by Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede) only add more to the film.
From the opening credits to the tragic finale (after all, this is a tragedy), the film is captivating. A powerful work.