Ran (1985)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

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

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)
Takeshi Katô	...	Koyata Hatakeyama
Jun Tazaki	...	Seiji Ayabe
Hitoshi Ueki	...	Nobuhiro Fujimaki
Takao Zushi
Yoshitaka Zushi
Tetsuo Yamashita
Akihiko Sugizaki
Masaaki Sasaki
Yoshimitsu Yamaguchi
Masuo Amada
Masaru Sakurai
Sakae Kimura
Ryojiro Oki
Hanbei Kawai
Ryo Nagasawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yûichi Hibi
Tokie Kanda	...	Sue's lady in waiting (uncredited)
Sawako Kochi	...	Hidetora's concubine (uncredited)
Reiko Nanjo	...	Hidetora's concubine (uncredited)
Kumeko Otowa	...	Sue's lady in waiting (uncredited)
Heihachiro Suzuki	...	Fujimaki's General (uncredited)
Haruko Togo	...	Kaede's lady in waiting (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay) and
Hideo Oguni		(screenplay) and
Masato Ide		(screenplay)
William Shakespeare		play "King Lear"

Produced by
Katsumi Furukawa	....	executive producer
Masato Hara	....	producer
Hisao Kurosawa	....	associate producer
Serge Silberman	....	producer

Original Music by
Tôru Takemitsu

Cinematography by
Asakazu Nakai
Takao Saitô
Masaharu Ueda

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Shinobu Muraki
Yoshirô Muraki

Set Decoration by
Jiro Hirai
Miysuyuki Kimura
Yasuyoshi Ototake
Tsuneo Shimura
Osumi Tousho

Costume Design by
Emi Wada

Makeup Department
Tameyuki Aimi	....	makeup artist
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Chihako Naito	....	makeup artist
Noriko Sato	....	hair stylist
Noriko Takamizawa	....	makeup artist
Shoshichiro Ueda	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Seikichi Iizumi	....	production manager
Satoru Iseki	....	production manager
Masayuki Motomochi	....	unit manager
Teruyo Nogami	....	production manager
Takashi Ôhashi	....	production manager
Ulrich Picard	....	general production manager (as Ully Pickard)
Tsutomu Sakurai	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bernard Cohn	....	first assistant director
Vittorio Dalle Ore	....	assistant director
Ishirô Honda	....	chief assistant director (as Inoshiro Honda)
Takashi Koizumi	....	assistant director
Kunio Nozaki	....	assistant director
Fumisake Okada	....	assistant director
Kiyoko Watanabe	....	assistant director
Ichirô Yamamoto	....	assistant director
Okihiro Yoneda	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Takayuki Goto	....	assistant sound
Soichi Inoue	....	assistant sound
Takenori Misawa	....	assistant sound
Hideo Takeichi	....	assistant sound
Claude Villand	....	final mix
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist
Shôtarô Yoshida	....	sound recordist
Jean-Marc Lentretien	....	sound mix technician (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kiyoshi Anzai	....	assistant camera
Noburu Asono	....	assistant camera
Koji Choya	....	electrician
Daizaburo Harada	....	still photographer
Hidehiro Igarashi	....	assistant camera
Yoshio Iyama	....	electrician
Koichi Kamata	....	electrician
Nobuyuki Kito	....	assistant camera
Mutsuo Komine	....	electrician
Kosuke Matsushima	....	assistant camera
Masakazu Oka	....	assistant camera
Yuichi Oyama	....	electrician
Makoto Sano	....	electrician
Takeji Sano	....	gaffer (as Takeharu Sano)
Yoshio Sato	....	still photographer
Tetsuo Sawada	....	electrician
Yoshinori Sekiguchi	....	assistant camera
Satoru Suzuki	....	assistant camera
Shigeo Suzuki	....	assistant camera
Shintaro Tazaki	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Akira Fukuda	....	assistant wardrobe
Kazuko Numata	....	assistant wardrobe
Noriko Taguchi	....	assistant wardrobe

Editorial Department
Hideto Aga	....	assistant editor
Hajime Ishihara	....	assistant editor
Ryusuke Otsubo	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Hiroyuki Iwaki	....	conductor

Other crew
Anne Brav	....	subtitler
Ishirô Honda	....	director's counselling
Masahiko Kumada	....	production assistant
Hisao Kurosawa	....	production coordinator
Ko Nauri	....	production assistant
Takeo Suga	....	accountant

Production Companies

• Greenwich Film Productions
• Herald Ace
• Nippon Herald Films

Distributors

• Studio Canal (2003) (worldwide) (all media)
• Acteurs Auteurs Associés (AAA) (1985) (France) (theatrical)
• Orion Classics (1985) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1985) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1985) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Film (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005-2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (Russia) (VHS)
• Jesnet (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Orion Pictures Corporation
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2007) (Sweden) (DVD) (HD DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Wellspring Media (????) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Centralcolor  still photo processing
• Christian Dior  makeup
• Ciné-Titres  subtitles
• Den Film Effect  titles and opticals
• Les Films Michel François  titles and opticals
• Sanwa Cine Equipment  camera equipment provided by
• Sapporo Symphony Orchestra  orchestra
• Studios de Billancourt  sound re-recording
• Toho Recording Center  sound re-recording
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Revolt (International: English title)

Runtime:

160 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) | 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:

The castle destroyed in the middle of the movie was specially constructed on the slopes of Mount Fuji for the film and then burned down. No miniatures were used for that segment, although an optical of another castle being burned at the end was used.

Quotes:

Hidetora: I am lost...
Kyoami: Such is the human condition.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Um Dia na Vida de Olivia (2009)

Jester and Warlord

'Ran' is the Japanese word for chaos, riot, dissension. Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece is indeed a feast of destruction and perdition, charged with symbols and powerful in pictures like it is found very rarely in today's cinema.

The dusky story is based on Shakespeare's 'King Lear'. In the film a Japanese warlord celebrates his own downfall. Kurosawa devised this with a radical film language which works with certain imageries of colors, rapid cut sequences and a sophisticated sound design. When the colorful flags of the different armies get intermixed in a battle, when the peacefully quiet wind (which carries the soundtrack) swells to a raving storm or when long wide shots suddenly segue into shots of details that follow hot on each other's heels then you realize Kurosawa's incredible style which deeply influenced the cinema worldwide.

The drawings of the characters are equally terrific. Hidetora's jester is for a certain reason always at the side of the warlord. Their relationship alters as the film continues: Jester and warlord change their roles which makes it hard to distinguish both. Just as the sky turns from blue to grey with dark clouds, the violent past of Hidetora is catching up the aging lord. His trail of murder and predation is not forgotten, the brutally conquered land still carries the old scarves of war and exploitation which now burst out again.

The viewer can take this monumental work as a warning to the destructive power of war, which is even decades later at present and beset those who seed the violence.