Ran (1985)
Aug 4, 2016 23:28:06 GMT -5
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 4, 2016 23:28:06 GMT -5
Ran
Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Premiered May 31, 1985In Which I Disappoint Tea Rex
As you may have read, I've been on a quest to review at least 95 films from 2007 in order to get a good overview of the year, as I believe it to be the best year in the history of film. Those who read the Last Movie Watched Thread may also know that I have been on a mad race to see as many new films as possible in order to bring my cinematic knowledge up to a reasonable level. This went into overdrive when I was given a month to move out of my former house, and in so doing watched at least one new movie every day, taking full advantage of my roommate's 60-inch LED TV and Hulu Plus subscription until, in the space of a single year, I had seen over 100 films for the first time. My current count is 794.
As Hulu is host to a bunch of classic films, I fill in as many major gaps as I could, using it to introduce myself to (among others) Escape from Alcatraz, Meek's Cutoff, Apocalypse Now, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Midnight in Paris, Hunger, Rosemary's Baby, Top Five, Trainspotting,* and a selection of films from the legendary Akira Kurosawa. Considering that the first screenplay I ever wrote (in 7th grade) was a samurai film, it's personally kind of disturbing that I'd never seen a live-action Japanese film before. Not one.
The first that I saw, The Hidden Fortress (1958), seemed an obvious choice, featuring as it does most of Kurosawa's favorite actors and trademarks, and famously inspiring the characters of C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars. It was well-done, but fairly basic. The next, Throne of Blood (1957), was amazing. A jidaigeki adaptation of William Shakespeare's MacBeth in the style of Noh theater and incorporating nearly as Japanese myth and folklore as Spirited Away, the film is haunting, entrancing, and thrilling all at once. I can't recommend it enough. I'd wanted to see it ever since Asaji's silent disappearance into and reappearance from the darkness was shown in Mark Cousins' The Story of Film: An Odyssey, and it will probably continue be my favorite of Kurosawa's films.
In 1985, Kurosawa returned to fusing jidai-geki and Shakespeare with Ran, an adaptation of King Lear. I'll be honest: I've never really gotten King Lear. I find it long and dull and nihilistic, like a Jacobean Game of Thrones without the colorful debauchery (you need Titus Andronicus for that). However, I was excited to see what kind of epic Kurosawa would make with a way bigger budget than his '50s classics.
The best part of Ran is its setting: the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the final phase of a 150-year civil war that, among other things, brought guns to Japan (if this, like Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, were remade as a western, it might be set in the early days of the automobile), and an era that has fascinated me since learning about it in 7th Grade history (hence my aforementioned first screenplay). In the film, the fearsome lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakodai) is nearing the end of his life and decides to cede power to his eldest son, Taro (Akira Terai). However, Taro's wife Kaede (Mieko Harada) desires revenge on Hidetora for killing her whole family, and encourages her husband to assert his authority over the old man. Taro exiles his father to the home of second son Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), who conspires against his father and Tango, killing the latter.
Wandering in the wilderness with his jester (Peter) and loyal bannerman Tango (Masayuki Yui), Hidetora's only hope is to rely on his goodhearted son Saburo (Daisuke Ryu), whom he has disinherited for his disapproval of Taro's leadership. His quest to find the lost Saburo leads him to lose his mind, and a total bloodbath ensues.
With its massive armies and sweeping vistas, Ran is certainly an epic, and it may be Kurosawa's most overtly bloody film (there are quite a few memorable death scenes). The director certainly has a good eye, but the story is sluggish and oddly paced. Where Throne of Blood was deliberate and tense in its slowness, Ran feels like it's trying to give things extra weight, but isn't succeeding. But as said before, I don't really get King Lear.
Additional Notes
As Hulu is host to a bunch of classic films, I fill in as many major gaps as I could, using it to introduce myself to (among others) Escape from Alcatraz, Meek's Cutoff, Apocalypse Now, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Midnight in Paris, Hunger, Rosemary's Baby, Top Five, Trainspotting,* and a selection of films from the legendary Akira Kurosawa. Considering that the first screenplay I ever wrote (in 7th grade) was a samurai film, it's personally kind of disturbing that I'd never seen a live-action Japanese film before. Not one.
The first that I saw, The Hidden Fortress (1958), seemed an obvious choice, featuring as it does most of Kurosawa's favorite actors and trademarks, and famously inspiring the characters of C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars. It was well-done, but fairly basic. The next, Throne of Blood (1957), was amazing. A jidaigeki adaptation of William Shakespeare's MacBeth in the style of Noh theater and incorporating nearly as Japanese myth and folklore as Spirited Away, the film is haunting, entrancing, and thrilling all at once. I can't recommend it enough. I'd wanted to see it ever since Asaji's silent disappearance into and reappearance from the darkness was shown in Mark Cousins' The Story of Film: An Odyssey, and it will probably continue be my favorite of Kurosawa's films.
In 1985, Kurosawa returned to fusing jidai-geki and Shakespeare with Ran, an adaptation of King Lear. I'll be honest: I've never really gotten King Lear. I find it long and dull and nihilistic, like a Jacobean Game of Thrones without the colorful debauchery (you need Titus Andronicus for that). However, I was excited to see what kind of epic Kurosawa would make with a way bigger budget than his '50s classics.
The best part of Ran is its setting: the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the final phase of a 150-year civil war that, among other things, brought guns to Japan (if this, like Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, were remade as a western, it might be set in the early days of the automobile), and an era that has fascinated me since learning about it in 7th Grade history (hence my aforementioned first screenplay). In the film, the fearsome lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakodai) is nearing the end of his life and decides to cede power to his eldest son, Taro (Akira Terai). However, Taro's wife Kaede (Mieko Harada) desires revenge on Hidetora for killing her whole family, and encourages her husband to assert his authority over the old man. Taro exiles his father to the home of second son Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), who conspires against his father and Tango, killing the latter.
Wandering in the wilderness with his jester (Peter) and loyal bannerman Tango (Masayuki Yui), Hidetora's only hope is to rely on his goodhearted son Saburo (Daisuke Ryu), whom he has disinherited for his disapproval of Taro's leadership. His quest to find the lost Saburo leads him to lose his mind, and a total bloodbath ensues.
With its massive armies and sweeping vistas, Ran is certainly an epic, and it may be Kurosawa's most overtly bloody film (there are quite a few memorable death scenes). The director certainly has a good eye, but the story is sluggish and oddly paced. Where Throne of Blood was deliberate and tense in its slowness, Ran feels like it's trying to give things extra weight, but isn't succeeding. But as said before, I don't really get King Lear.
Additional Notes
- Respectively: Liked it, liked it, liked it, meh, loved it, hated it, that's how you make witches scary, I love Chris Rock, and I enjoyed it enough but much like Beetlejuice it's very familiar in how much subsequent films imitated it.
- For those wondering (all zero of you), I'm actually planning to start another film retrospective while I finish the 2007 one (hint: It's a film-by-film analysis of how, in a single autumn, a world-changing tragedy and a world-changing movie franchise teamed up to end the Dark Age of Hollywood). After that, I'm probably doing a retrospective on 1977, but who knows?
