Ran

Plot synopsis:
Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful though now elderly warlord, decides to divide his territory among his three sons. Taro, the eldest, receives the First Castle and leadership of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo, as second and third sons, will be given the Second and Third Castles respectively; Hidetora is to retain the title of Great Lord. Two other visiting warlords, Lords Ayabe and Fujimaki, bear witness to the decision. Saburo objects, saying that it is foolish to rely on his brothers' loyalty. A faithful servant, Tango, also agrees. However, Hidetora takes Saburo's protests as an insult, and he exiles both men. However, Fujimaki, appreciating Saburo's frankness, takes him in.
Following the division of Hidetora's lands amongst the two remaining sons, Taro's wife Lady Kaede, resentful of Hidetora's ruthless killing of her family, urges Taro to oust Hidetora. Taro makes a pretext of a conflict arising from an insulting song sung by Kyoami, Hidetora's fool, demanding Hidetora renounce his title. His son's disrespect shames Hidetora, causing him to storm out of the castle in anger. Hidetora travels to Jiro's castle, meeting with meeting with him and his wife, Sué, only to discover that like Taro, Jiro too openly disrespects him. Hidetora leaves Jiro's castle in disgust, and eventually Tango appears, bringing further news of Taro's betrayal. Against Tango's advice, Hidetora listens to his advisor Ikuro, taking refuge in the abandoned Third Castle.
Shortly thereafter, the castle is besieged by Taro and Jiro's combined forces, and virtually all Hidetora's followers are slaughtered. In the confusion, Taro is also killed from behind by Jiro's general, Kurogane. Alone and unable to commit seppuku, Hidetora succumbs to madness and wanders away from the burning castle, in full view of the astonished enemy. Hidetora is joined by Tango and Kyoami, who remain loyal, and seeking refuge in the wilderness, the three encounter Tsurumaru, the brother of Lady Sué, blinded and left destitute by Hidetora. Horrified by Tsurumaru's haunting flute song, Hidetora flees with his two followers.
As Taro is dead, Jiro moves into the First Castle as Great Lord. Suspicious, Lady Kaede threatens him into admitting his part in her husband's fall in battle, before herself stating that she cares only for her own future, and seduces him. Falling under Kaede's control, Jiro orders Kurogane to obtain Lady Sué's head. In defiance, Kurogane brings back the head of a kitsune statue instead, attempting to warn Jiro of Kaede's dangerous influence.
Tango encounters and kills two spies for Jiro, who have since been abandoned by him. One of them is Ikuro, who before dying warns him that Jiro is sure to send assassins after Hidetora, causing Tango to ride off to alert Saburo. Meanwhile, Tsurumaru and Sué, fleeing from Jiro, arrive at the ruins of a castle, encountering a wandering Hidetora; in guilt, he becomes even more insane, losing Kyoami as he runs into a nearby plain.
Roused by Tango to seek his father, Saburo, Ayabe, Fujimaki, and their armies cross back into Jiro's territory. Goaded by Kaede to attack, and against the advice of his generals, Jiro hastily mobilizes his army for war. Notified by Kyoami of the situation, Saburo takes a small unit from the battlefield, successfully finding Hidetora, who has collapsed in the plain. Hidetora recovers his sanity, and he mournfully apologizes to Saburo for his foolishness, which Saburo accepts tearfully.
At the battlefield, Jiro attacks Saburo's force in Saburo's absence, but is forced to hastily retreat by the news that Ayabe, having deployed a decoy force, is in actuality marching on First Castle. While Saburo and Hidetora are returning together, a marksman in a unit of snipers sent by Jiro, shoots and kills Saburo. Overcome with grief, Hidetora also dies, and Tango and Kyoami mourn their deaths as Fujimaki and his army arrive bearing news of victory.
Sué, having given a picture of Amida Buddha to Tsurumaru to watch over him while he stays at the ruins, leaves to retrieve Tsurumaru's flute and is murdered by Jiro's vassal. As First Castle is attacked, Kurogane sees proof of Sué's death and confronts Kaede. She admits to her manipulation, having completed her plot for revenge now that the castle is doomed. Enraged, Kurogane decapitates Kaede in front of Jiro, before both Jiro and Kurogane go to their deaths in the subsequent battle.
A solemn funeral procession is held for Saburo and Hidetora. Meanwhile, alone in the castle ruins, Tsurumaru stumbles, dropping the Amida Buddha image into the gorge below.

Tags: murder, violence, atmospheric, insanity, tragedy, revenge, sentimental

Review:
Akira Kurosawa's 1985, Ran, is based one of Shakespeare's greatest works, King's Lear.
He is a master in the art of filmmaking, no one can film an epic battle scene quite like Kurosawa.
Lord Ichimonji's former peaceful kingdom is nothing but a distant memory.Akira Kurosawa redefines what an epic film is, with astonishing story telling, entirely believable characters and real life battle scenes without the use of Special effects/CGI.
With the both lyrical and grandiose tone of its craft, its beautifully spare imagery, its haunting score by Toru Takemitsu, and its lead Tatsuya Nakadai's masterful understated performance, "Ran" is perhaps the most fully realized epic ever made.The tale, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear", begins as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji and his court are out hunting.
In perhaps the most grandiose battle scene every filmed, he demonstrates the destructive consequences and the paradoxical beauty of conflict.Here, Kurosawa implements the camera with masterful skill not once employing the editing/photography tricks and gimmicks so often seen in films (even the good ones) today.
Based on Shakespeare's King Lear, this film follows the story of the aging warlord Hidetora who, in an attempt to restore peace, divides his kingdom between his three sons - Taro, Jiro, and Saburo - and retires from his duties.
This betrayal ultimately leads to war, dividing the family and driving Hidetora insane.The remarkable script, which contains many of my favorite lines from any film, still manages to break its way through the confinement of subtitles and reveals itself to be one of the richest Kurosawa ever wrote.
He has obviously worked equally hard on the look and feel of the film - the cinematography being excellent (example: the long, continuous shot of Saburo's men charging on horseback across a river).There's also something rather frightening about it that I can't quite put my finger on.
The entire battle lasts less than ten minutes and there is no uplifting or bombastic music to be heard, but in my opinion, it's Ran's finest scene, and thus the finest scene ever.What Kurosawa managed to get rather than give though was excellent performances from his actors, none more brilliant than Tatsuya Nakadai's Hidetora, Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede (a woman similar to Lady Macbeth but with a different hidden agenda), and the strangely-named Peter as Kyoami..
I would agree with Ebert's review on a point, that Akira Kurosawa, legendary director of such samurai classics as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Hidden Fortress, and Kagemusha, as well as human dramas like Rashomon, The Lower Depths, and Red Beard, could really best direct this film in his old age.
Not to say that directors can't make great films when they're young, or in middle age, about a man in the dark days of the golden years (About Schmidt, Tokyo Story, Bob Le Flambeur, and Kurosawa's own Ikiru come to mind).
At one point when Hidetora is in a wandering, dazed state he says "I am lost", to which his companion/caretaker Kyoami responds "Such is the human condition." Was Kurosawa lost as an artist and filmmaker as he tried to get his epic (which at the time of it's filming was the most expensive Japan had seen, and got some extra backing from outside European backers) off the page and onto celluloid?
If Kurosawa deserves praise for look of the film, the pacing, the editing, every single painstakingly storyboarded (painted) shot, and his direction with the two battle sequences as well as with the quieter, more compelling scenes with the actors, the man who plays Hidetora deserves some as well (like any production of King Lear, including Godard's wild treatise with Burgess Meredith in the lead role, the actor is as important as the writer).
Early in the film, after a mind-shattering dream, his character decides to split up his kingdom unto his three sons (Jiro, Saburo, and getting the first castle and all control, Taro), he still feels in control, and has the look of a Lord with just the right level of stubbornness and, unfortunately, naivety.
He then sees one of his sons, the betrayer, and he doesn't say a word- he's already decided that his son Taro has gone too far with his position, as he rules over his domain and scares the peasants right out of the picture- and he simply walks away, as his family continues to crumble under corruption of the mind and heart.It's a sequence like that though, where the great Lord makes such a radical change, where Kurosawa and Nakadai have some of their greatest time ever on a screen.
Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece is indeed a feast of destruction and perdition, charged with symbols and powerful in pictures like it is found very rarely in today's cinema.The dusky story is based on Shakespeare's 'King Lear'.
When the colorful flags of the different armies get intermixed in a battle, when the peacefully quiet wind (which carries the soundtrack) swells to a raving storm or when long wide shots suddenly segue into shots of details that follow hot on each other's heels then you realize Kurosawa's incredible style which deeply influenced the cinema worldwide.The drawings of the characters are equally terrific.
After all it is Shakespeare and one must be patient with it if they are not a fan of the old school theatre.Colourfull clashing armies, The lord awaiting his fate in a burning castle, a brilliant execution scene (I consider the BEST I have ever seen film ever), and the blind being left in the hands of Buddha?While Seven Samurai will always be his perfection, Ran is more than an enjoyable movie that should be seen.
Adapted by Kurosawa from Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran undoubtedly features amongst the best works of the master auteur.
The first section of the film is slow, following an aging warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai's best acting in a long wonderous career.) dividing his castles amongst his unsavory sons.
They turn against each other and against their father.Based on Shakespeare's King Lear 'Ran' is a very good film.
You need extreme patience to make it through this very long movie, and you also need to understand the context of the story.Ran is Kurosawa's retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear, which many scholars say is his most difficult tragedy.
"Ran", Kurosawa's 1985 film based somewhat on Shakespeare's "King Lear" is the story of an elderly emperor who hands down his kingdom to the oldest of his three sons.
He had wanted to make "Ran" for over a decade, but he couldn't find the funding, until Serge Silberman helped him out with the funding.So it was 10 years in the planning, the entire storyboard was painted by Kurosawa, the costumes were designed by Kurosawa and created over a 2 year period, 1400 extras and 200 horses were used in the battle scenes, Kurosawa's wife even died during the production of the film.
But the three sons quickly become enemies as they vie for power, and plunge the kingdom into chaos and war.The plot and characters are brilliantly adapted from King Lear - the plot is complex and characters' fates intertwine with one another beautifully."Ran" is beautifully shot - it is set in a mountainous region of Kyushu Island, and it makes you want to travel there.
LoveFilm helped me again by supplying Ran off my list a few months later and I'll be honest and say it sat for a few weeks in favour of lesser stuff.Finally seeing it I regret leaving it so long because it is a great film that paints on an epic scale as a clan collapses on itself but still manages to tell the story at a personal level of the corrupted and the corrupters.
I liked the fool played by Ikehata and how the script used him opposite the Lord and the massive supporting cast of generals and extras are all convincing and stout.Ran does have a hard time going for it in regards modern audiences; not only is it subtitled and over twenty years old but it is also a rough adaptation of Shakespeare  not really anything that a MTV viewer will jump at.
However it is worth the jump because it is a great film with consistently interesting themes, strong performances, great direction and a story that runs in the hearts of the characters but is played out on an impressively epic scale.
Even though I didn't completely follow the movie at all times, several parts were very affecting nevertheless and it was clear that the movie meant a lot to its creator.Ran also has an epic grandeur to it; it was the most expensive Japanese film made up to its time and apparently Kurosawa spent about 10 years painting (!) "storyboards" for the movie.
I think it shows in the movie, you really feel like so much work and consideration went into every second of it.Anyway, the way I see it, Ran is unlike any other film ever made.
But when Saburo hears of his brothers' betrayal and Lady Kaede's scheming, war begins to brew.Kurosawa's precise planning pays off, as Ran is a gorgeous canvas of colours and scenery, to the extent that any scene could be paused, printed and hung on the wall as a piece of art.
Because Kurosawa made some masterpieces when he was younger, therefore when he returns to prominence with a really long movie, set in the past, about GREAT THEMES like death, loyalty, war & the human condition, the critics line up to slobber all over themselves trying out-superlative one another.Here is my complaint: GREAT THEMES do not equal GREAT FILMS.
There has to be something going on in the story to make me wonder what will happen next.And honestly, I think I watched the same stuntman fall off the same horse twenty times in a row, just from different angles.Somebody wrote that these were the best battle scenes he'd ever seen.
The leading parts don't get any development of character (only exception: lady Kaede), although you could have been expecting this with such a tragic story as King Lear on the background.Although the mass fighting scenes, seen in the light of today's CGI, are not spectacular any more, they're very good done.
I also enjoyed Hisashi Igawa as the down to earth general of the second son, Jiro.Announced as a masterwork of the late Kurosawa, I'm glad to have seen Ran at last, but the 99th best movie all times  no, it isn't..
In all Ran a movie I thought was just about Samurai, turned out to be the best film or one of I have ever seen 10/10 most definitely.
Set on the foundations of William Shakespeare's King Lear and produced on a remarkably large by Japanese standards at the time- $12 million budget, Ran draws corresponding angles between ancient Japanese history and the classic literacy theme of tyranny.Kurosawa's inspiration for the picture is as follows; "when I read that three arrows together are invincible, that's not true.
Also, the King Lear insight was something which fascinated Kurosawa, as he had always wanted to create a past for the characters in his version of the tale (something he similarly did with Throne of Blood).Beginning with an extended scene set against the expansive and luscious background of Mount Aso -during the historic period of Feudal Japan- and ending in full-scale war.
Released in 1985, RAN would be among his final films and is generally felt to be among his finest.Kurosawa often borrowed plot lines from Western literature, and with RAN--the Japanese word translates loosely as chaos--he lifted the basic story from William Shakespeare's KING LEAR.
In Kurosawa's retelling, the Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) divides his kingdom between three sons: Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu) and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu).
Kurosawa shapes the Shakespearean story to 16th Century Japan, so it would be easy to belabor comparison with the original; at the same time, however, it is worth pointing out that he actually captures the story more effectively than any western filmmaker has to date.As in many Kurosawa films, RAN alternates moments of great stillness with rapacious action, enclosed spaces with wide vistas.
It's characters, themes and definitely the directing of it all is the reason why "Ran" works out as a great Japanese epic.The movie often doesn't use to many words to tell its story but the words that it does pick are effectively and carefully chosen.
"Ran" is Akira Kurosawa's film which takes the story of Shakespeare's "King Lear" and adapts it to be set in feudal Japan.
It is probably a little bit long and spends too much time on the ex-warlord going mad scenes and the ending is a bit of a fizzer.....(hmmm.......I can here the angry cry of a thousand angry film school students)....but it is still the work of one of the greatest geniuses in film making.And don't forget to watch the DVD comments, but seriously I don't think they really understand Kurosawa's real genius (for example, he tends to film the people listening rather than those talking, why, the talking is merely giving information, it is the reaction of the listener that is the most important)..
Film Review: "Ran" (1985)Direcotor Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) conquers the classic written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) as another tragedy of "King Lear" firstly published and put to the stage in 1605, when translation into medieval feudalism-indulging Japan makes a motion picture classic in visual-striking production and costume design by Emi Wada to fulfill the story of Warlord Hidetora Ichimonji, performed by actor Tatsuya Nakadai, whose character leaves behind a kingdom with a fully-equipped military army in sword, spear and flags-of-property showing to his three incapable-to-rule sons throwing a region of inceptional tranquility and elegance into chaos, while the eldering warlord retreats in going mad at rural hide-out countryside location in amazingly-received impressionistic make-up-effects in favors for director Kurosawa, who shows impeccable as expressionistic genius in fulfilling a cinematic masterpiece in chamber-play as open-range war-scenarios after 160 minutes to a just blitz personalized feeling of mine to watch the film all over again.Copyright 2018 Cinemajsty Entertainments LLC.
The acting is great, the cinematography is breathtaking, the visuals are neat, the costumes and sets are well designed, and brilliantly takes Shakespeare's original "King Lear" story and tell it a new and interesting way.
One of Kurosawa's best, "Ran" is a story set on samurai era Japan that touches on different subjects, as for example family, power, revenge or betrayal, delivering a powerful movie that will stay for a long time with the viewer.Old Lord Hidetora Ichimonji is getting old and, when a couple of lords come to ask for his third son to marry one of the lord's daughters, Hidetora decides it is time to retire.
A period epic brought to life in exhausting detail, Akira Kurosawa's Ran is a splendidly crafted tale of power, corruption, treachery, vengeance & insanity and is efficiently realised on the film canvas with its meticulous set pieces, sweeping camera-work & committed performances but its overlong runtime & glacial pace may not go well with everyone.The story of Ran follows a powerful but elderly warlord who hands over his vast empire to his three sons after choosing to retire.
But almost immediately the sons begin arguing among one another and soon the warlord finds himself dethroned and wandering the battlefields of the war his sons are waging.Quite like with his previous Shakespeare adaptation, Throne of Blood, Kurosawa delves deep into man's corruptibility and the taint of power in this film.
alongside the utterly brilliant "Seven Samurai", "Ran" defines Akira Kurosawa as one of the true masters of the art of film-making.
Banished by his own flesh and blood, the tyrant is forced to live like an animal in the wilderness while his one noble son attempts to save him, and along the way, looses his wits and comes to terms with the horrible things that he did to gain his kingdom.There's a substantial different between King Lear and Lord Hidetora.
Kurosawa's movie "Ran" basically follows plot that Shakespere's tragedy "King Lear" did.
For Akira Kurosawa, without a doubt one of the greatest directors of all time, Ran marks the last great movie he ever made despite its shortcomings.
Kurosawa was also a master at filming action scenes and Ran is no exception.
Given that Akira Kurosawa's sight had deteriorated so much by the time he made this movie, it's astonishing what a beautiful film Ran turned out to be.
That isn't to say it's a film that'll concern only those interested in poetic visual statements however, because it is also one of the director's best works and a landmark moment in Eastern cinema.Basically an updating of Shakespeare's King Lear, the film sees the elderly Lord Hidetora Ichimonji deciding to hand over the reins of power to his three sons.
Nakadai excellently uses the facial expressions so crucial to Japanese theatre in his incredible portrayal of Hidetora as he goes from confident and powerful to completely lost.It's a meaningful story for Kurosawa to tell at this point in his career, having much of his films in the '60s and '70s pass by unnoticed and in that time attempt to take his own life.
The story of Ran was based on "King Lear", and Akira Kurosawa adopted Japanese values and historical background in this film.
Director Akira Kurosawa takes Shakespeare's "King Lear" and sets it in feudal Japan.What I love about Kurosawa films is true about "Ran" as well: he was capable of making popcorn entertainments that were infused with an art-house intellectualism.
It is the last classic Japanese samurai epic of the 20th century, and the last great film by a filmmaker who overshadowed most of his contemporaries.Adapting Shakespeare's King Lear to Medieval Japan and changing daughters to sons, Ran opens with an aging warlord (Kurosawa regular Tatsuya Nakadai) dividing his power among his sons, only to watch them sulk away.