'Ran' is the Japanese word for chaos, riot, dissension. 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'. In the film a Japanese warlord celebrates his own downfall. Kurosawa devised this with a radical film language which works with certain imageries of colors, rapid cut sequences and a sophisticated sound design. 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. Hidetora's jester is for a certain reason always at the side of the warlord. Their relationship alters as the film continues: Jester and warlord change their roles which makes it hard to distinguish both. Just as the sky turns from blue to grey with dark clouds, the violent past of Hidetora is catching up the aging lord. His trail of murder and predation is not forgotten, the brutally conquered land still carries the old scarves of war and exploitation which now burst out again.
The viewer can take this monumental work as a warning to the destructive power of war, which is even decades later at present and beset those who seed the violence.
Plot summary
With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa's late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power.
March 02, 2022 at 04:30 AM
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Jester and Warlord
A film requiring patience with huge rewards for the viewer!
The 'Kurosawa' adaptation of King Lear in his film 'Ran' is a tremendous memorable film.
It is a very dramatic film with many soliloquies and dialogue, but if you are patient with it, you are treated to some of the most epic scenes of cinematic brilliance that Kurosawa made. 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. Just stick with it and you'll never forget it.
Rating 9 out of 10.
Kurosawa's late historical masterpiece is one of the best Shakespeare adaptations out there
This was my fourth Kurosawa film and my favourite to date. Previously, I'd started off by watching SEVEN SAMURAI (a great film), then trying out KAGEMUSHA (which I thought was okay, but too constrained by budget). Next up was an early classic, RASHOMON, which was a fine human drama, and now comes RAN, Kurosawa's final historical epic and the film that he claimed KAGEMUSHA was a mere warm-up for. I can see that. RAN is an epic film, truly epic and one of the best-shot films I've ever seen. Every frame of the film seems to have been painstakingly composed and the result is a bright, colourful, and vivid production that fully brings to life the castles, costumes, and characters of feudal Japan.
Tatsuya Nakadai, returning from KAGEMUSHA, here plays Lord Ichimonji, an immensely powerful ruler who concedes that power to his three sons at the film's beginning. However, his plans quickly go awry and before too long he finds himself ostracised from Japanese society and a literal outcast. This film is a loose reworking of the Shakespeare classic King Lear (another favourite of mine), something I really enjoyed as Kurosawa takes elements of the Shakespeare plot without following it slavishly. One of the best inclusions is the fool, who comments on the on-screen antics the same way as he did in the Shakespeare play.
It goes without saying that RAN is a tragedy and, indeed, it must be one of the most tragic films I've ever witnessed. Those looking for a happy ending should go elsewhere as this is all about doom, despair, and overall the failings of human nature. There's a fine cast of stand-out performers but one of the best has to be Mieko Harada, whose Lady Macbeth-style character is vengeful and terrifying. Nakadai, unrecognisable in ghostly, age-old makeup, is outstanding as the lord losing his mind, and Kurosawa is there to capture every little nuance. The most dramatic part of the film is a massacre set in a castle which is full of on screen death and destruction and successfully depicts the ferocity of battle better than 99% of other films do.
Like most of the Kurosawa historical epics, this is a lengthy and slow moving film, one that emphasis characterisation over action, plot over incident, but it's well worth sitting through. In the end, I found this one of the most rewarding films I've ever watched and anybody who professes themselves to be a fan of the cinematic medium should have it in their collection.
4K pleasee
Isn't it crazy to think that in his lifetime achievement academy awards speech, Akira Kurasawa said "I am just now beginning to understand film...but it is too late..."
Japanese version of King Lear
I can't find an SRT subtitle file that is well synchronized with the version of RAN that this page offers for download. Please help :(
No puedo encontrar un archivo de subtitulos SRT bien sincronizados con la versión de RAN que esta página ofrece para descargar. Ayuda por favor :(
1080 has a flaw in the processing at 1.35.46. Lots of artifacts.
based on West Side Story (Shakespeare)
It is a shame that the 4K remaster added that heavy Teal tint over the entire image. I wish it had the proper color timing of the older DVD release.
Shakespeare's 'King Lear' made watchable by Akira Kurosawa ;) 9/10 for this masterpiece :)
A cinema classic... One of Kurosawa's finest films ... :)
This really needs the highest resolution possible. Preferably 2160p.
1080p
1080p when?
1080p hurry up
1080p! please! Thanks!
1080p and 4k. Please.
please 1080p!!
any subs for this?
And 1080p? Thnaks.
1080 version coming up?
Partially based in Shakespeare's King Lear. A great epic movie, champion of all time. Check also Kurosawa's version of Macbeth, 'Throne of Blood' (1957).
The source of Martin Prince quote "as a bundle we form a mighty faggot" (the Simpsons). Incredible movie on honor, brotherhood and all related treachery. Must-see to understand how inheritance works
great movie, i watched it few times
Thank you!
Great film. Kurosawa is a master. 1080p would be nice especially because this one is in color with masterful photography.
Where the *** is 1080p version?