If you think you ought to see "Ran," you probably already know you want to see it. I'll just confirm: yes, you should see it. Like most of Kurosawa's films this is an epic, and truly an epic, and an artistic masterpiece. It was the biggest budget Japanese film ever to have been released when it came out. It isn't hard to see why. The film boasts incredible production design, thousands of extras, huge sweeping shots of grand locations and enormous armies. There is a ton going on here. It truly is a spectacle to behold.
The story is based on Shakespeare's "King Lear." I had heard that before seeing the movie, but expected it to be based on Shakespeare the way "Forbidden Planet" is based on Shakespeare (that is to say, hardly at all). This really is just the story of "King Lear" though, with a few minor adaptations made in order to make it fit in Feudal age Japan. I love "King Lear," and I find Feudal age Japan terribly interesting, so this film is really a recipe for greatness, especially with the genius of Kurosawa behind the wheel.
Still I didn't find the film as engaging as other Kurosawa classics such as "Rashoman" and "Seven Samurai." This was the first color film I've seen of his, and Kurosawa uses color to the fullest advantage in creating a vibrant, distinct and vast atmosphere for the story to reside in. Visually the film is absolutely arresting. It is full of beautifully composed shots, staged with stunning accuracy. I remember in particular a shot of several mounted warriors standing in the foreground watching a mountain ridge miles away as two armies move into place on the horizon. It's a stunningly framed shot, and I can't imagine what planning it took to time and frame up subjects who were many miles away from each other. As a quick scan of the wikipedia article about the film will tell you, Kurosawa spent 10 years prior to filming painting every shot of the film for story boarding. What an eccentric artistic genius thing to do, right? Out of control.
This is truly an artistic achievement, and certainly a masterpiece. I felt it suffered from some pacing issues that caused the story to drag at points when it did not need to. This does keep it from being as great a film as it could have been.
In the end though we still have one of the grandest and most impressive films ever made. It has great sets and locations, huge battle scenes, terrifying stunts (I'm thinking specifically of the numerous shots showing soldiers being shot off their horses while at full gallop with an army of other horses riding past them, someone had to have gotten hurt) and stunning production value. Everything facet of the film is executed deliberately with artistic consideration; every costume, every frame, every actors blocking. This is a calculated and beautiful piece of classic world cinema. If that's what you dig, next time you have about 3 hours, this film is worthy of your time. In fact a more valid question to ask yourself isn't if the film is worth your time, but if you are worth its....
In that case. Excelsior.
