Starring - Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Meiko Harada
Akira Kurosawa's films have been the inspiration for many a movie in Hollywood history; without The Seven Samurai there would be no The Magnificent Seven; without Yojimbo there would be no A Fistful of Dollars; without The Hidden Fortress there would be no Star Wars saga. With such an influence, Kurosawa is directing royalty but that doesn't mean he was averse to taking from history and producing a magnificent piece of cinematic gold. I finally got around to viewing his take on William Shakespeare's King Lear, and it was certainly worth the wait.
For me, this was virgin territory; a Kurosawa film that did not star Toshiro Mifune and was presented in full colour. And that colour is certainly used to full effect, but more about that a bit later.
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| Ran |
Ran is Shakespearean in story but all Kurosawa in vision.
It's the tale of an old King, Hidetora, who makes the decision to split his lands between his three sons. His eldest two, Taro and Jiro, flatter their father with words of love and devotion but the third, Saburo, tells the king that he will be betrayed (as they are, after all, their father's sons). These words enrage Hidetora and he banishes his youngest child. From there, the lord visits his remaining sons and what follows is a story of treachery, murder and a downward spiral into madness.
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| Hidetora informs his sons of his decision |
If you know the play of King Lear then this film won't hold any surprises, but that doesn't take away any of the enjoyment
The main actors are superb in their roles, with two in particular being stand out performers.
Tatsuya Nakadai. as the Lear figure of Hidetora, is wonderful to watch as he makes an emotional journey from the head of an almighty clan to a broken man, abandoned by his own flesh and blood. His face alone displays the pain of one thousand men as he descends into insanity.
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| Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) |
The other great performance is given by Mieko Harada as the vengeful Lady Kaede. Her deadpan affirmations of desire and menacing threats give the audience a character to truly hate. However without her, there is no story. Kurosawa uses Lady Kaede as the mistress of his tale; a woman who uses men as if they were pawns to sacrifice on the chessboard and who are too enamoured, too proud or just too stupid to realise. Shakespeare gave us Lady Macbeth but Kurosawa upped the ante with the deadly Lady Kaede.
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| Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada) |
As mentioned before, colour is used to its fullest potential. The extensive battle scene at the mid point of the movie is a prime example of this. The skies outside by this point are grey and over cast (symbolising Lear's deteriorating status and mental well being) but reds and yellows practically glow. The violence is more extreme, with arterial spray and severed limbs scattered across the screen. The blood itself is almost luminous.
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| The violent death of a character... but which one? |
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