Akira Kurosawa's crowning achievement...

To movie aficionados and cinema enthusiasts, Akira Kurosawa's name is synonymous with the title of 'cinematic god'. It's irrefutable that throughout Kurosawa's career (spanning over several decades) the director has created wonderful narratives and absolutely magnificent visual delights. To some people Kurosawa is the greatest thing to hit film since light. In this cynical and incredulous modern film-going society, neophyte students of film occasionally harbour doubts regarding the existence of this so-called cinematic god. Ran is an epic film capable of making believers out of anyone. The film is a remarkable visual spectacle composed of beautiful cinematography and gorgeous, oversaturated colours. Kurosawa is a filmic guru who situates his sombre narrative in a world full of opulent nature panoramas, all shimmering fields of vernal green grass and cerulean skies of deepest summer. Even after watching Ran, one can close their eyes and still see the kaleidoscope of colours...swirling and pulsing in a beautiful maelstrom. This is a testament to the masterful moviemaking of Akira Kurosawa.

The narrative conveyed in Ran is fundamentally an adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. This brilliantly conceived re-telling of the classic tale magically mixes Japanese history with Shakespeare's timeless plot. The film is saturated with profound themes of faith, love, trust, deception, loyalty and humanity in an epic tour de force. Interestingly, the film is generally tagged as an adaptation of King Lear, but it didn't start out that way. There is a famous story of a 16th century warlord whose sons were revered for their loyalty. Kurosawa wanted to turn the story on its head, showing that ambitious sons cannot be trusted. He started writing the script in 1976, with the first draft completed in 1978. At some point in early development either Kurosawa or his collaborators realised the unmistakable parallels to Lear. The final version therefore drew more inspiration from Shakespeare's play, although Ran differs significantly from King Lear in terms of characters and some plot points.

Akira Kurosawa's Ran is set in the Sengoku period. Said period was an era of civil wars in Japan that preceded the Shogunate. The time was characterised by much turmoil and lack of stability, hence the title of the film which means "chaos". This grand tragedy centres on the aging warlord Hidetora Ichimonji (Nakadai). With his golden years behind him, Hidetora decides to abdicate and split his land evenly between his three sons. Each son is to be allocated a piece of land and a castle. Hidetora wishes to live his remaining years visiting each of his sons and staying in their castles. His two eldest sons are pleased with his decision and happily accept the portion of the empire allotted to them. However, Hidetora's third son Saburo (the film's Cordelia, so to speak) criticises his father's decision and calls him foolish (much to the delight of the two eldest sons). Saburo argues that three sons won't be willing to protect their father due to their individual ambitions. Despite Saburo's words being correct, Hidetora is furious and banishes Saburo from his empire. It soon becomes apparent that Hidetora is no longer welcome in the empire he fought so furiously to obtain. His two eldest sons begin to overthrow him and refuse to offer their father any protection. Hidetora slowly grows insane, eventually wandering the wilderness with only his loyalest companions by his side.

Ran is regarded as Akira Kurosawa's most personal film, even occasionally regarded as his absolute best. The film languished in development hell for years. The first version of the script was penned by 1978, yet didn't go before the cameras until over half a decade later. Kurosawa's latest movies hadn't made much of a profit, making studios less inclined to fund this expensive production. While waiting for his epic to receive funding, Kurosawa painted detailed storyboards and designed ornate costumes. By the time French producer Serge Silberman raised the required money, Kurosawa had virtually already pre-shot and pre-edited the entire movie. His vision was clear, and he worked passionately to achieve it.

By all accounts the production was fairly smooth, but Kurosawa suffered three consecutive tragedies in the first 6 weeks of 1985. His long-time swordplay choreographer Ryu Kuze and sound man Fumio Yanoguchi (who had worked with him since the 1940s) died within a few days of each other. Both had started on the production of Ran but were compelled to leave due to ill-health. Following this, Kurosawa's wife was diagnosed with a terminal illness, eventually dying in early February. Kurosawa responded by immersing himself further in the production of the film, and his passion is obvious.

At 2 hours and 40 minutes, Ran is gruellingly long and occasionally difficult to sit through. Yet the film is a triumph in global cinema, with competent direction, a vibrant Japanese score, strong emotionally-charged performances and incredible battles. It's an action epic containing no more than 2 spectacular battles. The rest of the running time is dedicated to dialogue and establishing deep characterisations. The battles haven't dated one iota. Instead of employing CGI to create a swarm of soldiers, hundreds of actual extras have been employed. The colour scheme is particularly amazing. Even better are the jaw-dropping costumes which received an Oscar. These costumes were created by hand, taking a total of two years to complete them. The costumes look thoroughly authentic, and present an amazingly convincing vision of the 16th century.

I won't lie...Ran may be found quite boring by some. For someone who adores the works of Michael Bay and who is searching for never-ending action will be vastly disappointed. But if you decide to watch Kurosawa's masterpiece seeking oodles of action, then you're watching it for all the wrong reasons.
In spite of my incessant appraisal of the outstanding visuals being displayed, there are several shortcomings. For starters, the film is undeniably difficult to follow. Stilted dialogue and poor distinguishing of plot points proves lethal. The acting is top notch, but much of the character behaviour appears random and incoherent. This is a problem I've found with all of Kurosawa's movies: there's a wonderful narrative that's blemished by a clunky and jumbled screenplay. For most of the running time, the visuals appear to be the product of Kurosawa's self-indulgence as the film moves from one random (albeit beautiful) visual image to the next. At least it's gripping and thoroughly involving, with a sufficient amount of interesting characters to keep one entertained.

Quite unsurprisingly, the film is extremely violent and filled with bloodshed. The evil bitch known as Kaede receives her comeuppance is a very violent fashion. It's interesting to note than while the film was stamped with a suitable R rating by the MPAA, in Australia the film has been slapped with a PG rating. Weird...

Ran is an expressive and deep reflection of the condition of human affairs. It's a transfixing tale of the perpetual balance between action and repercussion which transpires in the midst of those who kill and those who are killed. It is a narrative concerning two brothers and their machiavellian approach to their acquisition of supremacy. It's also about a rogue brother guided by truth and rejected for speaking that of which would eventually and paradoxically occur. The film is also about one woman and her desire for vengeance against all those who devastated her childhood. The film additionally concerns a lone father too blind to realise the truth, and who pays for the sins of his past with the blood of his sons (both the loyal and the treacherous). Finally, the film is a story about all those ensnared in the twisted web of "Ran"...which aptly translates as "chaos".
Despite the film being hard to follow at times, Ran is an absolute triumph in the career of Akira Kurosawa. It's an unforgettable and gripping tale of disloyalty and trust. The visuals are mind-blowing, the direction is beautiful, and the acting is simply superb. This is an astounding epic film, with exhilarating action and yet much subtlety that becomes apparent on repeated viewings.

8.1/10