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Ran (Masterworks Edition) Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu Director: Akira Kurosawa Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 160 minutes Studio: Wellspring Media, In Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com essential video As critic Roger Ebert observed in his original review of Ran, this epic tragedy might have been attempted by a younger director, but only the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, who made the film at age 75, could bring the requisite experience and maturity to this stunning interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear. It's a film for the ages--one of the few genuine screen masterpieces--and arguably serves as an artistic summation of the great director's career. In this version of the Shakespeare tragedy, the king is a 16th-century warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai as Lord Hidetora) who decides to retire and divide his kingdom evenly among his three sons. When one son defiantly objects out of loyalty to his father and warns of inevitable sibling rivalry, he is banished and the kingdom is awarded to his compliant siblings. The loyal son's fears are valid: a duplicitous power struggle ensues and the aging warlord witnesses a maelstrom of horrifying death and destruction. Although the film is slow to establish its story, it's clear that Kurosawa, who planned and painstakingly designed the production for 10 years before filming began, was charting a meticulous and tightly formalized dramatic strategy. As familial tensions rise and betrayal sends Lord Hidetora into the throes of escalating madness, Ran (the title is the Japanese character for "chaos" or "rebellion") reaches a fever pitch through epic battles and a fortress assault that is simply one of the most amazing sequences on film. --Jeff Shannon |
 "Criterion's RAN coming to the rescue"Now that Amazon is offering the Criterion DVD of Kurosawa's RAN with a ton of supplementary material pre-order it now! In this two disc masterpiece will be AK the 74 minute film by Chris Marker which in itself is worth buying. Set to classical music this tribute on the filming of Ran long ago distinguished itself for being a superb film. Add a recent interview with RAN star Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai, and you have it. Both my Japanese version of RAN and AK on laser discs have seen better days, and I can hardly wait for this great work to finally get a decent DVD transfer, and with Criterion you know it will. Just push the order button, and pray that November's release date comes real soon! "It's all in the details"This stands as my favorite Kurosawa movie. It's an epic retelling of MacBeth, cast in feudal Japan. A father unsuccessfully plans his succession, and Chaos (the Japanese definition of Ran) results. His sons, instigated by a vanquised foe turned wife, start to fight, and everything goes downhill. The greatness is in the details. Meticulously planned scenes provide explanation by showing, rather than telling. Facial expressions carry more weight than words. The screen placement of characters provides insights as well. To appreciate everything, it helps to watch the movie twice - once as is, and again with the voiceover. This remains one of the greatest movies ever made - the crowning achievement of the great master. It's a movie to own and see multiple times, rather than rent and return. Don't let DVD format particulars dissuade you - the word masterpiece is not overused here. "Criterion on the way...."That Ran is a masterpiece is not really up for debate. It's arguably the greatest film by arguably the greatest Japanese filmmaker of all-time (and thus one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time from any nation, period). However, this gem's transition to DVD has been cringe-worthy on Region 1. The Fox Lorber edition is noted as being one of the worst transfers in existence, and while many were satisfied with the Masterworks edition, most who were familiar with the film (and many who weren't) recognized that there was an obscene amount of digital manipulation. The result is the film's colors looked utterly artificial and the film has nowhere near the serene look it normally does. The transfer is just deplorable. But, true to their reputation, Criterion is coming to save the day. They've announced they're working on a release for late this year. Expect a deluxe edition that you WILL want to wait for, guaranteed. Let the current editions rot. "This film will be getting a Criterion Release in November!"The film is stunning -- a reenvisioning of King Lear, but set in the Japanese feudal period. It may be Kurosawa's most impressive film -- combining the bloody realism Seven Samurai's war scenes with his keen insight into the establishing of mood through gesture with an incredible eye for color that is displayed in, say, Dreams. The DVD transfer, on both the Fox Lorber and Masterworks edition, is at best passable -- a mere hint of the stunning beauty of the film (I find my VHS copy to be an improvement on both of these). But there is good news!!! A criterion release is on the way in November!! With a film like this, where the look is so amazing in the original, it is not worth it to go with a cheap transfer. Wait for the real thing, or the closest you can get without owning a theater and renting the 35mm print.  "Monumental"I do not disagree with others who comment on the DVD transfer. There were other oddities, too, like having both English dubbing and subtitles, with no menu for turning either off, and havin to endure the fact that the spoken and written words said different things. That's just the container, though. The content is a stunning achievement. At 2.5 hours, it can be a bit much, but Kurosawa's artistry makes it worthwhile. By the way, disregard those reviewers who liken it to King Lear. It starts out in a similar way, and people who watched only the first half would miss the complexities of the later plot. This movie is about revenge, the kind that waits between generations for completion. The mechanism is in place from somewhere near the start, but fulfilled only at the end. I can not think of an equal to this visual spectacle. If this were redrawn, not as a movie but as a sequence of still shots, it would retain almost all of its impact. Framing and composition are everything, motion within the image is often missing, minor, or irrelevant. Although he was a master of B&W, Kurosawa used color with striking, iconic effect in this movie. He also seemed to reach back to older traditions of Japanese theater - Hidetora and Kaede, especially, had stage makeup more like Noh masks than like living man and woman. It's a great story, carried by wonderful and very non-Western storytelling. I just wish the presentation was better. //wiredweird |
