NEWS: Blu-ray Only Release: Ran

Blood-spattered and brutal version of 'King Lear', with three sons instead of three daughters. Akira Kurosawa took the story and remade it into this highly regarded, blood splattered 'Period of the Warring States' epic.

After years of ruthless slaughter, Hidetero splits his kingdom amongst his sons seeking a peaceful retirement, but his life descends into chaos as he is unable to escape the corruption within his own family and the torment within his soul.

Film: Ran
Release date: 18th October 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 155 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada
Genre: Action/Drama/War
Studio: Optimum
Format: Blu-ray
Country: Japan

SPECIAL FEATURE: DVD Review: Dreams

Film: Dreams
Release date: 18th March 2003

Certificate: PG

Running time: 119 mins

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada, Mitsunori Isaki

Genre: Fantasy/Drama

Studio: Warner

Format: DVD

Country: Japan

This title has yet to receive a Region 2/UK release.

Pioneering the craft of motion picture, not merely in his native Japan but the world over, films such a Seven Samurai and Roshimon have had an indelible influence on generations of directors. For all this, however, it astonishes the general lack of attention Dreams has been afforded among the canon of Kurosawa's many notable masterpieces.

Dreams, as the title would suggest, is a compilation of eight vignettes inspired by dreams the writer/director recorded and accumulated over several years of his life. Some profoundly philosophical and others of a vividly visceral nature, both allow Kurosawa to indulge his unparalleled skill for dialogue and visual craft.

It is difficult not to understate the profundity of Akira Kurosawa's effect on the art of modern filmmaking. Recognised by scholars and enthusiasts of cinema, were it not for Kurosawa's body of work that left no facet of the cinematic form untouched film would not exist as it does today…


In a segment entitled ‘Crows’, a nameless character (Akira Terao) is featured encountering Vincent Van Gogh (played by director Martin Scorsese in the one scene in the film shot in English) after stepping into a hung Van Gogh being displayed in the stark white of a gallery hall. The painter’s Wheat Field With Crows is translated to screen in no less impressionistic a style than Van Gogh’s own brushstrokes. Meeting Van Gogh among the tall stalks of an expanse of golden fields, the nameless character (seen in the director’s token white sun cap) is berated by the artist who admonishes him for wasting time in a field with old men when there is so much to create, an obsession Van Gogh exclaims he cannot resist feeding.

This particular segment seems very much a personal statement on the part of Kurosawa, if gifted to him in a dream. Scorsese is among several widely recognised purveyors of cinema that have openly praised and attributed their own vision to the late Japanese filmmaker. Kurosawa in turn had credited Van Gogh as a principal influence on his vision as a director and the luscious colours with which the director animates the still painting could not make for a finer tribute. Likewise the coincidence of a sort of Scorsese’s portrayal gives the exchange a self-referential poeticism: the student (Scorsese) playing the master (Van Gogh) instructing the mentor (Kurosawa) on his obligation to his own artistry in a scene written and directed by Kurosawa.

In the films concluding piece, entitled ‘Village Of The Watermills’, another nameless traveller, again played by Terao (a recurring feature in the film, and in many other of Kirosawa’s work), happens upon the elderly operator of a rural Japanese watermill (Chishu Ryu). Set against the stillness of the brook over which the mill stands, and the measured turn of its wheel, the scene becomes at once a solemn meditation on the inevitability of death, and a deeply comforting appreciation and resignation towards the no less inevitable continuation of life. The scene serves as both a literal and figurative Buddhist lesson on the expanse of existence made perhaps the more poignant and wistful by Kurisawa’s passing earlier in 2010.

In compilation, as it is, the piece of pastiche offers as a whole a wide rendering of Kirosawa's prowess. Each vignette reflects the rich tapestry of Kirosawa's synaesthetic, some grand and mesmerizing in their visual allure, and others containing a profound minimalism and philosophical stillness. As the film represents to a large extent the culmination of a life spent behind the camera, it is a fitting introduction to the genius of its director to those unfamiliar with Kurosawa’s work and a timeless epitaph that should bring disciples of cinema to tears.


A film truly exemplifies the director’s pronouncement that “man is a genius when he dreams.” ABM

REVIEW: DVD Release: Ran

Film: Ran
Release date: 20th November 2006 (Blu-ray released 28th September 2009)
Certificate: 15
Running time: 153 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada
Genre: Action/Drama
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Japan

If the Lucas and Spielberg assisted production of 1980’s Kagemusha was Kurosawa’s flawed dress rehearsal for the epic blood soaked fable he had always envisaged, then his revisit to the genre, Ran, is very much the real thing - a silence to his critics, and an amazing visual experience.

As with 1957’s Throne Of Blood, which was closely modelled on Macbeth, Kurosawa once again drew inspiration from Shakespearean tragedy, adapting King Lear – albeit, this time, with several subtle differences, most notably the inclusion of several ‘new’ characters and interesting moral dilemmas.

Faithful to the original source material, the plot is based around an ageing warlord who decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three offspring. Unlike Lear, however, who had three daughters; our protagonist has three sons with which to contend with. The youngest son (adopting the Cordelia role) vocally dismisses his idea as senility and insanity, and inevitably transpires to be the only one to remain loyal to his father despite his impending madness. Chaos ensues, greed and ambition prevail, and ultimately the outcome is tragic beyond even Shakespeare’s own inventions…


The transition from an Elizabethan setting to feudal Japan is seamless. The story itself could easily be a morality tale from almost any culture, but somehow in Kurosawa’s hands it seems quintessentially Japanese. Kurosawa himself seems to have embraced his Japanese heritage more so than in previous efforts, adopting naturalistic filming techniques such as static camera angles and long takes evoking the performances and staging of traditional No plays, rather than the favoured American influenced sweeping and panning camera techniques employed in films like The Seven Samurai.

The look of the film is extremely theatrical with over the top physical performances, lavishly coloured set design, wardrobe and makeup. Despite the extravagance and stylistic nature, they never detract from the verisimilitude and realism of the film. The makeup of the main character, crumbling warlord Hidetora, in particular, is made up to evoke ghostly theatrical imagery. His face resembling a Kabuki mask, a style of theatre derived from 16th century Japan, but given his circumstances, it is accepted and never questioned.

Kagemusha was perceived in many circles to be somewhat of a failure, due to its inability to make an emotional connection with the audience. Ran has no such issues, and Kurosawa obviously intended to address this issue head on. He succeeded by crafting much more empathetic characters and situations, and decided to cast a wide range of talent that, for the most part, he hadn’t previously worked with (having mysteriously parted ways with regular collaborator Toshiro Mifune before the production of Kagemusha).

Hidetora, as expertly portrayed by Kurosawa veteran Tatsuya Nakadai, is a more complex individual than Shakespeare’s titular character. Plagued by madness and guilt, he wanders throughout the lush landscape with his loyal retainer Tango and fool Kyomai encountering various characters and events that only disturb him further - spiralling towards the events that form the film’s unavoidable conclusion. Tension builds as storm clouds gather symbolising the impending doom, and while everyone is blinded by their own agendas, only the fool Kyomai remains the voice of reason (the film’s moral compass, and some much needed comic relief as there are many unsettling scenes of brutal violence).

The most disturbing scenes involve those featuring Lady Kaede, a character specifically invented for Ran - she evokes the power Goneril had in Lear and an almost Lady Macbeth ability to manipulate the males for her own benefit, essentially instigating all of the events that occur within the narrative. The performance by Mieko Harada is chilling, yet demands sympathy and respect from the audience when we learn of her past and her abilities. She also evidently displays far superior leadership skills than Hidetora or any of the three brothers. The inclusion of Kaede detracts from potential homo eroticism and misogyny created by dominance of a nearly all-male cast by providing a fully rounded feminist presence. These complex and, at times, contradictory characters demonstrate how Kurosawa had evolved as a filmmaker by this point - much more comfortable with symbolism and ambiguity than overt morality pieces.

The technical aspects of this film also show much more competence and confidence. The panoramic battle scenes and choreography are mesmerising, eclipsing anything done by any filmmaker before or indeed subsequently. Not even Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings or Edward Zwick’s The Last Samurai come close. One harrowing battle scene, in particular, features absolutely no diegetic sound, only the eerie yet intense score provided by an array of traditional instruments. This gives a necessary distancing from the violent imagery, but somehow enables it to become all the more captivating.

Cinematographers Takao Saito and Masaharu Ueda do the astonishing job of utilising the vibrant colour palette featuring the many lush greens that are on display in the mountainous locations to give a sense not of calm and tranquillity but instead sinister foreboding - enhancing the mood of the film brilliantly, complimented by the haunting score.


Ran is a cinematic tour de force, a modern day updating of a classic tragedy brought to the screen by a true visionary. A masterpiece of the highest order and a startling return to form. Now the film is available on blu-ray for the first time, the opportunity to experience it in high definition is not to be missed.