Howard Orr
25Dec11
Yeah, I think there may be a case for that.
Not Kurosawa's absolute magnum opus, but in his top 5, a stunning achievement. Nakadai gives one of the best japanese performances of all time.
Absolutely successful in terms of squeezing every inch of drama from every corner and every opportunity in the story. From every angle, this was the best way to tell this story.
Kurosawa’s Lear transfigures the play into an epic jidaigeki, echoing his enterprise with Macbeth in Throne of Blood. A splendid, distinguished adaptation, and an accomplished piece of filmmaking, period; the mise en scene having an air of such splendour, grace and tragedy. Nakadai lends an imperial presence in front of the camera, while Kurosawa does so behind it, with large-scale set pieces alongside scenes adept in intimating central themes, nuances (‘war begets war’). Well-rounded, fleshed out - truly an inspired translation.
Kurosawa in colours is a completely different experience, It was to be wonderful if all his previous samurai movies were coloured, That was to be magnificent!.
on the trailer, the confrontation between lady kaede and kurogane is from a different camera than in the film. interesting.
Ran is probably cinema's greatest rendition of a Shakespearean Epic. Adapted by Akira Kurosawa from Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran undoubtedly features amongst the best works of the master auteur and completes his apotheosis. Ran is a testament to the true spirit of cinema. The full review is posted at: http://apotpourriofvestiges.blogspot.com/2012/01/ran-1985-kurosawas-visual-spectacle-and.html
Great film, yet whenever it approaches a sense of something cosmic it retreats. It's also important to not consider this an adaptation of King Lear, but rather a great film with allusions to King Lear.
The only film of Kurosawa's from "Red Beard" onwards that to me remotely holds up against the pre-1965 classics.
First Kurosawa movie I saw in a cinema, I remeber being totally flabbergasted with the color, the acting, everything... The armies coming down the hills are absolutely wonderful.