View Larger Image |
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 |
 "Men prefer sorrow over joy."Ran takes place in the 14-16th century - the "Unsettled Period", where Japan was fragmented and fought for between a number of warlords. Ran is, basically, the story of King Lear in samurai Japan. An old warlord, Lord Hidetora, decides to leave his power and territory to his three sons, wants to keep his title, and expects peace to reign. His elder, Taro, gets the biggest castle, and Jiro, the middle son, gets the second castle - the last son, Saburo, sees the stupidity of this plan and argues, but his father expels him. Lord Hidetora's plan crumbles as each of his son kicks him out of their castle, and band together to destroy his army. Lord Hidetora goes insane and walks off in the desert with only his Fool and a former councillor for company, while war brews and allegiances shift. Make no doubt about it, this is as depressing as King Lear or any other Shakespeare play. Everything is already determined, there is scheming a plenty, and everyone dies at the end. It's what goes in-between that's interesting. The gorgeous plains where the action takes place, the large-scale battles with swords and muskets (not an inaccuracy, by the way), the philosophical musings of the Fool (interestingly played by a popular androgynous Japanese actor only known as "Peter"), the plays on human nature, the subtle music, all contribute to make this an eminently watchable movie. Saburo : Men prefer sorrow over joy... suffering over peace ! "Human Chaos"Akira Kurosawa`s RAN from 1985 is addapted from Shakespear`s King Leer. This film starts excellently with Lord Hidetore`s guards watching over his kingdom and Hidetore goes hunting for wild boars shows his skills as a warlord. Kurosawa had financial problems in the late 70`s so he couldnt make this Masterpiece of cinema at an early stage, he had to wait to get financial support so he decided to make Kagemusha (the shadow warrior) and its commercial succes gave Kurosawa enough money to make RAN ( he had thought of making RAN for over 10 years). With help from G. Lucas and Spiellberg and all the great cast and crew RAN became a major succes and earned lots of Awards and pricez. Now Published out by the Masterworks Edition RAN is one of the greatest Akira Kurosawa DVD`s you can get. Highly recomended, this is my Fav. Kurosawa DVD. "The slower the better"Ran is one of the best films of the 80's and the culmination of Kurosawa's lengthy career. A vast tableau of color and epic pageantry, it is probably one of the last films that gets better with repeated viewings. The dvd itself is at times awful, but the commentaries do help to ease the pain somewhat. I believe the Fox Lorber came with practically nothing... While famous for the battle sequences including the attack on the third castle (the set cost $1.6 million and was made as an homage to silent films) the long "boring" moments are no less intense. While the quiet scenes are at first demanding, they soon prove themselves to be the key elements to the film being so full of intimation. Mieko Harada is chilling as Lady Kaede, brimming with evil while using the most minimal amount of physical movement. Her few violent outbursts are all the more intense after such formal restraint. Her handling of the two Ichimonji sons is fascinating, As Kurogane, Hisashi Igawa gives a wonderful commanding performance as Jiro's aid, vainly trying to keep his Lord focused on the responsiblities of subduing his kingdom. His strength lies in his submissiveness to his duty: He obviously is better leadership material then Jiro, but his devotion to the kingdom is more important to him than personal gain. The scenes between him and Harada are the strongest in the film, and while the final beheading isn't all that realistic, it is effective. His alter-ego Tango, played by former sporting goods store owner Masayuki Yui (who auditioned for Kagemusha after reading an ad in the paper looking for extras and ended up with a key role!) is equally devoted, more so to Hidetora and Saburo than to an empire. Kyoami, the court jester, is played flamboyantly by Peter, who was famous for cross dressing roles (as was Tom Hanks). Tatsuya Nakadai, a longtime Kurosawa cast member gives an over the top theatrical performance as old Hidetora. His makeup was designed after masks in the Noh tradition, first as an evil spirit, then later as a condemned wandering spirit. While not to everyones taste, it is a memorable performance nonetheless. With some patience and an open mind, Ran will continually reveal its vast and intrically nihilistic textures more and more through repeated viewings and firmly cement itself as one of the greatest Kurosawa masterpieces. Catered to Americans my ...!  "Classic movie, disappointing dvd"Kurosawa's RAN is one of the all time classics of world cinema, a unique and masterfully crafted epic full of extraordinary visuals. The film may be overly melodramatic and theatrical for some (specifically those who rarely venture outside the latest Hollywood blockbusters), and its dark pessimism about human nature may turn others off. However, those that are open to the film's style will find it richly rewarding. Unfortunately, RAN has now been twice let down on DVD in the US. The original release featured a horribly washed out print with poor compression, thoroughly destroying the impact of the amazing costumes and cinematography. The new "Masterworks" edition boasts of being digitally restored in hi-definition, and it certainly looks richer & better - however, the DVD encoding is dreadful, featuring absurd application of edge enhancement and a very unstable encoding (there are noticable leaps in sharpness every reference frame in the mpeg stream). Very poor quality control, and rather ruins the point of doing all that digital restoration. The disc is not so bad as to be unwatchable, but it is certainly disappointing and diminished my viewing pleasure considerably. Those with a smaller tv would probably notice the flaws less, but I think there's a good argument to be made that Wellspring should recall and remaster the disc - or at least half the price they're asking for it. "Kurasawa at his epic best"When Ran was released 18 years ago I remember seeing it at a small art house and not really following the story too clearly but being impressed with the sheer magnitude of the affair. The previous video version of the film did little to dispel my doubts. The film was too foreign for a mainstream audience to fully grasp. Today after having viewed the Masterworks Edition of Ran I can finally say that I understand where the great master was trying to take his audience with this his last great epic. Ran in this edition is truly spectacular. The colors pop off the screen, every instance of ambient sound is enhanced in a 5.1 Dolby soundtrack and finally the subtitles (while still not perfect) have been set onto the film in such a way that they are a joy to read. Ran is one of those great films that becomes better as its audience ages. On a basic level this is Kurasawa interpreting Shakespeare's King Lear in a Japanese fuedal tradition. But it is much more also. This film deals with Buddist philosophy, the impact of war on society and family disintegration. The title can be roughly translated as "chaos." Some of the special features on this disc need to be mentioned. The commentary by Stephen Prince is easily woth the price of the disc. Turn off the subtitles and listen to Mr. Prince's shot by shot analysis for one of the truly great commentaries on Kurasawa's work. Also the more sparse commentary by Peter Grilli is worth a listen for its anecdotal information on the great director. The disc is finished with two theatrical trailers and a short restoration demo. All in all this is a difficult and important film that is well worth the time it takes to view. Do yourself a favor and see one of the great films by a true master of the cinematic art. |
