Ran (1985)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

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

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:

Power | Castle | Greed | Revenge | Blood

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 28 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Lord Hidetora Ichimonji
Akira Terao	...	Taro Takatora Ichimonji
Jinpachi Nezu	...	Jiro Masatora Ichimonji
Daisuke Ryû	...	Saburo Naotora Ichimonji
Mieko Harada	...	Lady Kaede
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Lady Sue
Hisashi Igawa	...	Shuri Kurogane
Pîtâ	...	Kyoami
Masayuki Yui	...	Tango Hirayama
Kazuo Katô	...	Kageyu Ikoma
Norio Matsui	...	Shumenosuke Ogura
Toshiya Ito	...	Mondo Naganuma
Kenji Kodama	...	Samon Shirane
Takashi Watanabe
Mansai Nomura	...	Tsurumaru (as Takeshi Nomura)
Takeshi Katô	...	Koyata Hatakeyama
Jun Tazaki	...	Seiji Ayabe
Hitoshi Ueki	...	Nobuhiro Fujimaki
Takao Zushi
Yoshitaka Zushi
Tetsuo Yamashita
Akihiko Sugizaki
Masaaki Sasaki
Yoshimitsu Yamaguchi
Masuo Amada
Masaru Sakurai
Sakae Kimura
Ryûjirô Oki
Hanbei Kawai
Ryo Nagasawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yûichi Hibi
Seizô Katô	...	Koyata Hatakeyama (voice)
Tokie Kanda	...	Sue's lady in waiting (uncredited)
Sawako Kochi	...	Hidetora's concubine (uncredited)
Reiko Nanjo	...	Hidetora's concubine (uncredited)
Kumeko Otowa	...	Sue's lady in waiting (uncredited)
Heihachiro Suzuki	...	Fujimaki's General (uncredited)
Susumu Terajima	...	Foot soldier (uncredited)
Haruko Tôgô	...	Kaede's lady in waiting (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay) and
Hideo Oguni		(screenplay) and
Masato Ide		(screenplay)
William Shakespeare		play "King Lear"

Produced by
Katsumi Furukawa	....	executive producer
Masato Hara	....	producer
Hisao Kurosawa	....	associate producer
Serge Silberman	....	producer

Original Music by
Tôru Takemitsu

Cinematography by
Asakazu Nakai
Takao Saitô
Shôji Ueda

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Shinobu Muraki
Yoshirô Muraki

Set Decoration by
Jiro Hirai
Mitsuyuki Kimura
Yasuyoshi Ototake
Tsuneo Shimura
Osumi Tousho

Costume Design by
Emi Wada

Makeup Department
Tameyuki Aimi	....	makeup artist
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Chihako Naito	....	makeup artist
Noriko Sato	....	hair stylist
Noriko Takamizawa	....	makeup artist
Shoshichiro Ueda	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Seikichi Iizumi	....	production manager
Satoru Iseki	....	production manager
Masayuki Motomochi	....	unit manager
Teruyo Nogami	....	production manager
Ulrich Picard	....	general production manager (as Ully Pickard)
Tsutomu Sakurai	....	unit manager
Takashi Ôhashi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bernard Cohn	....	first assistant director
Vittorio Dalle Ore	....	assistant director
Ishirô Honda	....	chief assistant director (as Inoshiro Honda)
Takashi Koizumi	....	assistant director
Kunio Nozaki	....	assistant director
Fumisake Okada	....	assistant director
Kiyoko Watanabe	....	assistant director
Ichirô Yamamoto	....	assistant director
Okihiro Yoneda	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Takayuki Goto	....	assistant sound
Soichi Inoue	....	assistant sound
Takenori Misawa	....	assistant sound
Hideo Takeichi	....	assistant sound
Claude Villand	....	final mix
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist
Shôtarô Yoshida	....	sound recordist
Jean-Marc Lentretien	....	sound mix technician (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kiyoshi Anzai	....	assistant camera
Noburu Asono	....	assistant camera
Koji Choya	....	electrician
Daizaburo Harada	....	still photographer
Hidehiro Igarashi	....	assistant camera
Yoshio Iyama	....	electrician
Koichi Kamata	....	electrician
Nobuyuki Kito	....	assistant camera
Mutsuo Komine	....	electrician
Kosuke Matsushima	....	assistant camera
Masakazu Oka	....	assistant camera
Yuichi Oyama	....	electrician
Makoto Sano	....	electrician
Takeji Sano	....	gaffer (as Takeharu Sano)
Yoshio Sato	....	still photographer
Tetsuo Sawada	....	electrician
Yoshinori Sekiguchi	....	assistant camera
Satoru Suzuki	....	assistant camera
Shigeo Suzuki	....	assistant camera
Shintaro Tazaki	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Akira Fukuda	....	assistant wardrobe
Kazuko Numata	....	assistant wardrobe
Noriko Taguchi	....	assistant wardrobe

Editorial Department
Hideto Aga	....	assistant editor
Hajime Ishihara	....	assistant editor
Ryusuke Otsubo	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Hiroyuki Iwaki	....	conductor

Other crew
Anne Brav	....	subtitler
Ishirô Honda	....	director's counselling
Masahiko Kumada	....	production assistant
Hisao Kurosawa	....	production coordinator
Ko Nauri	....	production assistant
Takeo Suga	....	accountant

Production Companies

• Greenwich Film Productions
• Herald Ace
• Nippon Herald Films

Distributors

• StudioCanal (2003) (worldwide) (all media)
• Acteurs Auteurs Associés (AAA) (1985) (France) (theatrical)
• Nordfilm (1986) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Orion Classics (1985) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Rialto Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1985) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1985) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Film (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• CBS / Fox Video (1987) (Greece) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005-2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (Russia) (VHS)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2008) (United Arab Emirates) (DVD) (Middle East)
• Future Film (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Gativideo (198?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Jesnet (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Leader Music (2011) (Argentina) (DVD) (as Leader Vision)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1993) (Finland) (TV)
• New Star (2009) (Greece) (DVD)
• Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Orion Pictures Corporation
• Panorama Distributions (2010) (Hong Kong) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Showtime (1987) (Finland) (video)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2007) (Sweden) (DVD) (HD DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2009) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Wellspring Media (????) (USA) (DVD)
• WoWow (2012) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Centralcolor  still photo processing
• Christian Dior  makeup
• Ciné-Titres  subtitles
• Den Film Effect  titles and opticals
• Les Films Michel François  titles and opticals
• Sanwa Cine Equipment  camera equipment provided by
• Sapporo Symphony Orchestra  orchestra
• Studios de Billancourt  sound re-recording
• Toho Recording Center  sound re-recording
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Revolt" - International (English title) (literal English title)

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

Japan | France

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

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) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

Aso, Kumamoto, Japan

Company:

Greenwich Film Productions

Trivia:

The film used approximately 1400 extras (1400 suits of armor were fabricated, designed by Akira Kurosawa) and 200 horses. A number of the horses had to be imported from the United States. Kurosawa used the extras and horses so efficiently that when the film was ready for premiere, newspapers in Japan were reporting that thousands of extras and horses were used to stage the battles.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the first scene (while the Land Lord and his sons are hunting wild boars) the first shot that shows every single wild boar running in front of the camera is probably a single shot of the same wild boar repeated 3 times.

Quotes:

Kyoami:The failed mind sees the heart's failings...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cha-cha-chá (1998)

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.