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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 |
 "I've seen better"The Great Lord, Hidetora Ichimonji (played well by Tatsuya Nadakai), has reached seventy years of age and decides to relinquish his crown. He has decided to give equal power to his three sons to show that cooperative family life is important and possible. His sons are worried that this won't work, until Hidetora shows them that one arrow could be easily broken, but three arrows held together couldn't. One son however is not awed by the little demonstration and spoke up. His name is Saburo and he is banished. He leaves right away but is not forgotten. Soon after Hidetora retires, the two remaining sons quarrel and fight with themselves and other enemies and get in a huge civil war. Hidetora is eventually banished, but finds Saburo, who is kind enough to let Hidetora stay with him. Eventually the war brings down the entire family. Hidetora's other two sons are killed in battles, and Saburo is assassinated. Hidetora then has a heart attack, or something like it, and dies on top of Saburo. It's pretty depressing. Ran is very well done, but not particularly enjoyable. Kurosawa, the world-renowned director, chose Japan, obviously, to shoot the film. He shot the movie in rural areas where there aren't any buildings or modern roads. The landscape is beautiful when it is peaceful, and ugly during battle. During the peaceful discussions between Hidetora and his sons, the grass is green, the sky is blue and everything seems happy. During the battles, however, everything is gray, ugly and dead. There is no grass, the skies are cloudy and there are many soldiers dressed in dull, grey uniforms. The battle scenes are amazing. They are extremely long, which is very uncommon in today's films, like Braveheart and Gladiator, where the battles last for about five minutes. The battles actually rage, instead of just start with huge explosions and then end. There are hundreds of extras that seem to be trained as Samurais. The special effects aren't great, because the film was made in 1985. There is way too much blood that looks like red paint. Even though the effects are poor, the battles are very well done. They are easy to follow because the troops have colored flags that indicate which team they are on. The battles are what make Ran the epic that is known as. Although Ran was very well done, I didn't personally like it. All the shots were long and slow. They lasted for a very long time, and since I have developed a self-diagnosed case of ADD from all the video games I play, I got bored of them. The movie only had about an hour of plot, but it was stretched out into two hours and forty minutes. I got very sick of the talking scenes. The movie would be better if it was half as long. "Be Very Careful"My star rating has nothing to do with the mertis of the film. It has only to do with the total hatchet job Fox Lorber did in their infamous DVD transfer. By no means buy this version of the film, even though you think you're saving a couple bucks. I agree entirely with the reviewer who said the only thing to do with the DVD and it's case is to use it for a coaster. The images are muddy and dark. The sound is old 78s quality. It really is a shameful, shoddy piece of work. By all means, order the movie. It's Kurosawa's magnum opus, great in every detail. Just make sure you shell out a few bucks more for the Masterworks edition, or splurge and go for the Kurosawa multi DVD collection. This review is meant solely for the Fox Lorber 1985 DVD release.  "Must-see film"I first saw this film in a movie theater and hearing that this new remastered version was coming out on DVD made me very excited. I was very satisfied with the quality of the image on the DVD, in contrast to some other reviewers. I watched it on my TV, but also played some sequences on my Apple computer LCD display, and I don't see any of the pixellated images or sparkling that some reviewers complained about. Since some also said there was no commentary or other special features (my disk had several special features) perhaps there is more than one disk run out there, or production was uneven. As far as the film quality itself, it is one of my favorite films, because of the beauty and terror of the scenes, the terrific interactions of the players, in word and expression, and the character of Lady Kaede--she is just magnificent ... no words can adequately describe the character Kurosawa wrote nor the performance by the actress. "Kurosawa's final masterpiece"Ran (literally "Madness" or "Chaos"), legendary director Akira Kurosawa's 27th of 30 films, is a masterpiece on every level, with sequences ranging from one of the most overwhelming battles ever filmed to intimate scenes which begin with ritualistic formality but then erupt into volcanic passion. Kurosawa spent ten years meticulously preparing every detail of, and scouring the world for funding for, this magnum opus, a free adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear transposed to sixteenth century feudal Japan. Kurosawa brings an uncanny balance of psychological insight, thematic density, and visual/aural mastery to his reinvention of Lear. He gives us a developed backstory for Hidetora (although some would argue that Shakespeare's Lear is so dominating a presence, both on the throne and in madness, that he does not need more of a personal history). Tatsuya Nakadai's performance as Hidetora is, in a word, overwhelming. He brings out all of his character's pathos despite the traditional Noh makeup which Kurosawa has only this one actor wear. He begins with a fierce visage resembling the traditional demon mask, "Akijo," but as he descends into madness, his deeply-lined face and red-rimmed eyes tellingly suggest "Shiwajo," the sorrowing old man spirit forced to wander the earth to pay for his sins. What might have been a mere distancing technique in a lesser filmmaker is here shattering, as we are constantly reminded both of Hidetora's artifice and heartbreaking humanity. Kurosawa also made an intriguing decision not only to expand the role of the Fool into a major character (here named named Kyoami), but to make him both sexually ambiguous and totally beguiling. He is played by the Japanese transgender pop star known simply as Peter. Kyoami is, in a way, the healing opposite of the chaos ("Ran") of the title, as he balances both masculine and feminine energy, great courage as well as flexibility and tenderness. As we see, those qualities are especially important in a rigidly hierarchical society, founded on macho posturing, like the one disastrously promulgated by Hidetora. Kurosawa's other major addition is Lady Kaede (brilliantly played by Mieko Harada), who exists as a sort of demonic opposite to Kyoami. Although based on Shakespeare's Goneril, she is a much more complex and important character in the film. Her unstoppable vengeance brings down Hidetora's entire family, first as the wife of Jiro the second son, then as the mistress of Taro, the eldest son. Without giving away some of the film's most dramatic plot revelations, let it be noted that what Hidetora did to Lady Kaede's parents, years earlier, provides the reason for her unwavering hatred. Kurosawa is a visual master - although some people find his style, especially in the later films (including Ran), austere. But for me, his use of image and sound is exceptionally revealing about his subjects and theme. Look at Ran's opening shot. Despite the stillness of four horsemen, on a hill, waiting in motionless silence, there are intense visual dynamics: The contrast of earth and sky, the severely limited number of planes (this effect was created by using a telephoto lens and shooting a great distance from the actors), the tension produced - despite the bright full sunlight - by having each of the riders staring in a completely different direction (plus there was the added mystery of not knowing what they are searching for so intently, since we are not yet aware that they are on a boar hunt). This one image sets up the entire film, both visually and dramatically: Those four warlords, standing at sharp right angles, will soon pull apart not only each other but their entire world. For a stunning contrast, look at the overtly dynamic first battle, which some people consider the greatest war sequence ever shot (it has inspired many pictures since, including the opening of Saving Private Ryan). Kurosawa films the battle with total silence, except for Toru Takemitsu's haunting score. He makes us view the carnage from a detached, almost omniscient point of view, then suddenly thrusts a new atrocity into the frame. The overwhelming power of this sequence is compounded by the deliberate, ritualistic pacing of the scenes which have preceded it.  "Possibly The Worst DVD Transfer Ever"Before you read further, I highly recommend the MASTERWORKS edition recently released. Also, I absolutely love this film. You can read everyone else's reviews to reinforce that opinion. But Fox Lorber? A disgrace they are. The whole movie is shifted to the top of the screen, leaving a giant black bar on the bottom of the screen. If that's not bad enough, the bright yellow subtitles are on the very bottom, making your eyes sore from moving them up and down constantly at a larger degree. The subtitles are burned in, so taking them off is not an option at all. The picture is completely not remastered, colors are way-off. It seems their only master was a worn out VHS copy that was at a Blockbuster down the street. To see what i mean by all this, get yourself the MASTERWORKS edition, and compare the restoration demonstration, the old DVD copy is just what the un-remastered material looks like. I warn you, this is better off as a very expensive drink coaster than a preservation of art. Kurosawa rolled in his grave when this was released.... |
