Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu
Our latest reissue is a stunning 4K digital restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s (Drunken Angel, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Rashômon) Ran, his famous interpretation of King Lear as a jidaigeki epic; and the most expensive Japanese film ever produced on its original release in 1985.
The restoration has been created by Studiocanal and Japanese production company Kadokawa Pictures. ‘Ran’ stands for chaos, turmoil or fury in Japanese; all befitting Shakespeare’s vision of a nihilistic world turned upside down and revolting against its natural order; dramatising the pain and rage of ageing and its inevitable loss of control.
Borrowing narrative elements from the legend of Mōri Motonari (a 16th century Japanese warlord) as well as the Shakespearean tragedy, Ran stars Tatsuya Nakadai as the vain, arrogant Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji, who at seventy decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons, with catastrophic results.
Spectacularly beautiful, with gorgeous, colour-saturated frames, it is an undoubted masterpiece; the product of a breathtaking artistic vision that works as an historical epic and Shakespearean adaptation as well as a bloody, action-packed war film with a silent central battle scene that must be seen to be believed.
