Save for one startlingly staged battle sequence. . .might as well have been titled "Also Ran."
Ran(乱)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan, France · 1985
Rated R · 2h 40m
Director Akira Kurosawa
Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Genre Action, Drama, History
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With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa's late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
A magisterial film, but not quite a great one.
San Francisco Chronicle by Bob Graham
In Ran, the horrors of life are transformed by art into beauty. It is finally so moving that the only appropriate response is silence.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Desmond Ryan
The triumphant masterpiece of Akira Kurosawa's fertile twilight.
The Japanese title means chaos, and that is what is let loose when a powerful king foolishly tries to release the reins of power, in the hopes of enjoying a peaceful old age.
TV Guide Magazine by Frank Lovece
Stands separate from the rest, in a pantheon, a true cinematic masterwork of sight, sound, intelligence, and most importantly--passion.
San Francisco Examiner by G. Allen Johnson
Kurosawa pulled out all the stops with Ran, his obsession with loyalty and his love of expressionistic film techniques allowed to roam freely.
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
One of the 10 best films ever made, period.
Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy
In many respects, it's Kurosawa's most sumptuous film, a feast of color, motion and sound: Considering that its brethren include "Kagemusha," "The Seven Samurai" and "Dersu Uzala," the achievement is extraordinary. [01 Dec 2000, p.26]
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A cautious nihilism drives the events in one of the largest and most epically scaled wails of despair ever put to film