Ran (1985)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) and
Hideo Oguni (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 June 1985 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

An elderly lord abdicates to his three sons, and the two corrupt ones turn against him.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Greed | Castle | Blood | Power

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 25 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Lord Hidetora Ichimonji
Akira Terao	...	Taro Takatora Ichimonji
Jinpachi Nezu	...	Jiro Masatora Ichimonji
Daisuke Ryu	...	Saburo Naotora Ichimonji
Mieko Harada	...	Lady Kaede
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Lady Sue
Hisashi Igawa	...	Shuri Kurogane
Peter	...	Kyoami (as Pîtâ)
Masayuki Yui	...	Tango Hirayama
Kazuo Kato	...	Kageyu Ikoma
Norio Matsui	...	Shumenosuke Ogura
Toshiya Ito	...	Mondo Naganuma
Kenji Kodama	...	Samon Shirane
Takashi Watanabe
Mansai Nomura	...	Tsurumaru (as Takeshi Nomura)

Also Known As:

Ran (UK) (USA)
Revolt (International: English title)

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

France | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Japan:R | Norway:16 (1985) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Aso, Kumamoto, Japan

Company:

Greenwich Film Productions

Trivia:

Ran, generally translated from the Japanese, means 'chaos' or 'revolt'.

Quotes:

Kyoami: Are there no gods... no Buddha? If you exist, hear me. You are mischievous and cruel! Are you so bored up there you must crush us like ants? Is it such fun to see men weep?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein (1991)

Single. Greatest. Shakespeare. Adaptation. Ever.

Thankee kindly.

Kurosawa, while a great director, isn't somebody whose films I blindly endorse.

However, Ran takes the cake. It easily makes my personal top five films any time I think about it.

The imagery is absolutely stunning, and the dialogue is quite clever. The battle scenes are suitably horrific, and the humor (and yes, there is humor) is subtle enough not to get in the way.

All told, one of the greatest films it's been my privilege to see. I watched it to get the nightmare that was Cold Mountain out of my head, as proof that long movies can actually be epic, as opposed to boring, trite, and predictable.