Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu & Mieko Harada
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Rating:
Enetertainment Quotient: 30%
Genre: War/Drama
Runtime: 160 min
Language: Japanese
MPAA rating: R

Synopsis:
Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) becomes old and decides to giveaway his kingdom to his three sons - Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu). Saburo warns his father of the future danger. Lord gets angry and banishes Saburo. Taro and Jiro accepts father’s kingdom and they plot against removing their father. The rest of the story is about the gory details of sons’ hunger for absolute power.

What is special about the film?
This film is based on Shakespeare’ play ‘King Lear’. The beautifully etched lady villain character seems to be inspired by Macbeth. It is a tragedy film where almost all the primary characters die. This film was made when Akira Kurosawa was 75 year old with diminished eye sight. Akira used mostly long shots while shooting this film. There are very few medium shots a couple of close-up shots. The battles scenes are good.

What I liked in the film?
There are pretty good symbolic and philosophical shots in the end like –

1. When father and third son meet, father is rejoiced. And the son is killed just when the father says that he has lots of stories to tell when they go home. Just when the son falls on the floors from the horse, the soldier comes and tells that they won the battle.

2. The blind brother of Sue is stranded at the edge of a cliff waiting for his sister. The Buddha’s photo falls down when he is about to step into the air at the edge of the cliff.

What I didn’t like in the film?
The runtime of the film is too lengthy.

The scenes I liked

1. The scene in which the lady seduces the brother of her dead husband after intimidating him with a sword fight.
2. The scene in which men ride horses across the river. It is one of the most beautiful and poetic shots I had ever seen.
3. The war scenes in the end. These are pretty natural without any glorification.

Tailpiece:
The title ‘Ran’ means ‘Chaos’ in Japanese. This film was nominated for Oscars in 4 categories and won an Oscar for costume designing.