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:

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

Goofs:

Continuity: When Saburo's men ride away from the Third Castle, you can see that the path before them has already been trampeled from previous takes.

Quotes:

Tango:Men prefer sorrow over joy... suffering over peace!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

The Best Film based on one of Shakespeare Best Works. This Masterpiece is recommended for anyone that loves movies . Truly one of the Greatest Films of all time!

Akira Kurosawa's 1985, Ran, is based one of Shakespeare's greatest works, King's Lear. The Film proudly stands along with his other classic such as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Roshomon, Sanjuro and the Hidden Fortress. He is a master in the art of filmmaking, no one can film an epic battle scene quite like Kurosawa. This is recognized as the most expensive film ever made by Akira Kurosawa, it was at that time, Japan's most expensive film ever. Being at the age of 75, he still showed us, he's one of the best in the business.

This movie is about an aging lord, head of the Ichimonji family, decides to retire and to pass the power to Taro, the eldest of his three sons. He will however have to banish Saburo, the youngest one, who dared to speak the truth to him. Soon, the former lord is chased away from the castles of his sons and becomes mad when he understands that one of his sons is trying to kill him. The three brothers are fighting for control of the Kingdom, as their lust for power grows every day. Four armies are facing each other on the prairie. Lord Ichimonji's former peaceful kingdom is nothing but a distant memory.

Akira Kurosawa redefines what an epic film is, with astonishing story telling, entirely believable characters and real life battle scenes without the use of Special effects/CGI. He retells the story of King Lear in his own way and no one would recognize that it was actually a adaptation beforehand. But just like Shakespeare, there is humor, irony, death and not a happy ending. Everyone who played a part in the production of this film, deserves some kind of recognition. The acting is pretty much excellent and certainly believable.

10/10 Kurosawa is a Genius