Time: 162 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – Violence
Cast:
Tatsuya Nakadai as Ichimonji Hidetora
Akira Terao as Ichimonji “Taro” Takatora
Jinpachi Nezu as Ichimonji “Jiro” Masatora
Daisuke Ryu as Ichimonji “Saburo” Naotora
Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede
Yoshiko Miyazak as Lady Sue
Mansai Nomura as Tsurumaru
Hisashi Igawa as Kurogane
Peter as Kyoami
Masayuki Yui as Hirayama Tango
Director: Akira Kurosawa

The main thing that I knew about Ran is that it was an Akira Kurosawa film and that it was a nearly 3 hour long epic, unsurprisingly it turned out to be another stellar film from him.

I didn’t know it at the time but as it turns out, Ran is a take on William Shakespeare’s King Lear. I’m not familiar with that story, but this movie certainly felt like a Shakespearean tragedy. Ran is an ambitious and grand story about betrayal, greed and deceit, a sweeping tragic epic that really does feel monumental. The story is haunting with plenty of brutality (mostly in the large scale battle scenes) while also being beautiful, and it was compelling to watch from beginning to end.

The acting is also amazing. Tatsuya Nakadai delivers an incredibly haunting performance, displaying a real range of emotions over the course of the film. The supporting cast are great too, with Mieko Harada being especially excellent.

Akira Kurosawa’s direction is phenomenal, Ran is so excellently crafted. The cinematography is gorgeous with bright vibrant colours, plenty of shots flat out looked like paintings, and there was some very memorable imagery. The scale of the production is large and incredible and is felt throughout. This is seen in the stellar set design, and in the intense action sequences. The action is fantastically staged and with wonderful stunts and fight choreography.

Ran is an excellently crafted epic, with amazing performances, a compelling story, and fantastic action sequences.