Ran (1985)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) and
Hideo Oguni (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 June 1985 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

An elderly lord abdicates to his three sons, and the two corrupt ones turn against him.

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Revenge | Ambush | Adultery | Foreign Language Adaptation

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 25 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Lord Hidetora Ichimonji
Akira Terao	...	Taro Takatora Ichimonji
Jinpachi Nezu	...	Jiro Masatora Ichimonji
Daisuke Ryu	...	Saburo Naotora Ichimonji
Mieko Harada	...	Lady Kaede
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Lady Sue
Hisashi Igawa	...	Shuri Kurogane
Peter	...	Kyoami (as Pîtâ)
Masayuki Yui	...	Tango Hirayama
Kazuo Kato	...	Kageyu Ikoma
Norio Matsui	...	Shumenosuke Ogura
Toshiya Ito	...	Mondo Naganuma
Kenji Kodama	...	Samon Shirane
Takashi Watanabe
Mansai Nomura	...	Tsurumaru (as Takeshi Nomura)

Also Known As:

Ran (UK) (USA)
Revolt (International: English title)

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

France | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Japan:R | Norway:16 (1985) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Aso, Kumamoto, Japan

Company:

Greenwich Film Productions

Trivia:

A scene which required an entire field to be sprayed gold was filmed but left out of the final film during editing.

Quotes:

Hidetora: What madness have I spoken? Wherein lies my senility?
Saburo Naotora Ichimonji: I'll tell you. What kind of world do we live in? One barren of loyalty and feeling.
Hidetora: I'm aware of that.
Saburo Naotora Ichimonji: So you should be! You spilled an ocean of blood. You showed no mercy, no pity. We too are children of this age... weaned on strife and chaos. We are your sons, yet you count on our fidelity. In my eyes, that makes you a fool. A senile old fool!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Um Dia na Vida de Olivia (2010)

Very well made

One of the last great films directed by Akira Kurosawa. A father gives his land and his power to his three sons. They turn against each other and against their father.

Based on Shakespeare's King Lear 'Ran' is a very good film. It was very expensive and you can see that. Over ten years Kurosawa was busy on this project and in 1985 it was finally there. Very well made, with beautiful costumes, music and cinematography, a great direction and some good performances. Although I think Kurosawa has done better ('Rashomon', 'Ikiru', 'Yojimbo' and of course 'Shichinin no Samurai') 'Ran' definitely belongs to his best.