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Ran (1985)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
1 June 1985 (Japan) morePlot:
An elderly lord abdicates to his three sons, and the two corrupt ones turn against him. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Won Oscar. Another 25 wins & 15 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(12 articles)
Akira Kurosawa: The Masterworks Blu-ray Disc Collection (From Affenheimtheater. 19 June 2009, 10:27 AM, PDT)
Criterion Bluray Cover Art for Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha'
(From Get The Big Picture. 30 May 2009, 6:30 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Jester and Warlord moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
160 minLanguage:
JapaneseColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreCertification:
Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 (DVD 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)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
A scene which required an entire field to be sprayed gold was filmed but left out of the final film during editing. moreQuotes:
Kyoami: Why stay with this mad old man? If the rock you stay on starts to roll, jump clean. Or you'll go with it and be squashed. Only a fool stays aboard. moreFAQ
Is this movie based on a novel?A Note Regarding Spoilers
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
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'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.