Ran (1985)

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:

Revenge | Greed | Castle | Blood | Power

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
Shôji 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)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (Russia) (VHS)
• Jesnet (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• New Star (2009) (Greece) (DVD)
• Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Orion Pictures Corporation
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2007) (Sweden) (DVD) (HD DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2009) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 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:

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:

The story was inspired by samurai legends, but also draws on William Shakespeare's "King Lear" as well.

Quotes:

Saburo Naotora Ichimonji: Does a traitor betray himself?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Husbands and Wives (1992)

Greatest rendition of a Shakespearean Epic

Ran is probably cinema's greatest rendition of a Shakespearean Epic, ironically coming from an oriental film-maker. Adapted by Kurosawa from Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran undoubtedly features amongst the best works of the master auteur. It captures with sheer vividness and surreal resplendence, the true essence of human struggle for survival, highlighting the cruelties associated with life. Ran is strictly indicative of the sole consistency of life i.e. change, an attribute that not only makes the humans vulnerable but also gives them the hope to rise after a fall.

The story focuses on a senile warlord, who owing to his senescence is rapidly losing his strength and his ferocious grandeur that he had earned through years of relentless savagery and ruthless slaughter, ergo he renounces to his three sons, hoping them to establish a sort of a triumvirate with the eldest son having a slight edge. His two elder sons accept the proposal with rapturous glee, but his youngest son seems bemused and questions the wits of the patriarch for taking the untimely decision. Though arrantly annoyed by his son's audacious defiance, he tries to console him, only to find him inconsolable. Deeply hurt by his son's impertinence and censure, he reluctantly banishes him and enthrones the two elder sons. The rest is rather worth a watch than a read, for there is nothing that can better the sumptuous elegance of Ran.

The brilliantly captured scenes are breathtaking to say the least, especially the war scene that depicts fate casting the final blow to the ruthless reign of the warlord. The brutality and the bloodshed depicted in the very scene can make even a cold-blooded appear jittery. Ran portrays the poetic justice in such a relentless and abominable fashion that one can't help but sympathize with the narcissistic warlord, who spent his life arrogating and annihilating the innocent souls. The plaintive score gives the movie a much desired tone, a mood that not only supports its melancholic backdrop, but also immensely adds to its poignant beauty. The final scene featuring the blind boy, deeply clutched by his haplessness and gross solitude, though doesn't feature an utterance of even a single syllable, the playback of the mystical flute makes the scene haunting as well as mesmerising and worth a thousand words. Ran is a classic example of Kurosawa's brilliance and perhaps a consummation of his apotheosis.

A must watch for eclectic viewers and admirers of pristine cinema. Highly recommended: 10/10.