Ran
1985 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Original language: Japanese
- action
- drama
- history
The story
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
What it’s like
Vast, windswept landscapes and ink-wash skies give way to the saturated reds, yellows and blues of lacquered armour and banners, all framed with the painterly stillness of a scroll unrolling. Kurosawa's compositions are often flat and symmetrical, with enormous hills and burning castles held in long, unmoving shots, and the color is sometimes so vivid it feels almost unreal. Wind, distant drums and the rattle of armour carry most of the soundtrack, punctuated by Takemitsu's sparse, mournful score that arrives like a warning. The mood is grand, bleak and slowly unravelling, a tragic study of pride, betrayal and the loneliness of power as an ageing lord loses his grip on everything he built. Pacing is deliberate, with long stretches of quiet dread broken by sudden, startling bursts of battle. The intensity is high: sieges, arrows, swordplay and a number of bloody deaths, with grim, sometimes harrowing violence and a heavy emotional toll rather than gore for its own sake. It suits a long, serious evening for viewers drawn to epic historical cinema, classical tragedy and visually bold, melancholy films.
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