| Ran | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Based on | King Lear byWilliam Shakespeare |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Music by | Toru Takemitsu |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 162 minutes |
| Countries | |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $11–12 million |
| Box office | $19 million (est.) |
Ran (Japanese:乱;lit. 'chaos ortumult') is a 1985epic historicalaction drama film directed, co-written, and edited byAkira Kurosawa. The plot derives fromWilliam Shakespeare'sKing Lear and includes segments based on legends of thedaimyōMōri Motonari. The film starsTatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an agingSengoku-periodwarlord who decides toabdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons.
Like most of Kurosawa's work in the 1970s and 80s,Ran is an international production, in this case a Japanese-French venture produced byHerald Ace,Nippon Herald Films, and Greenwich Film Productions. Production planning went through a long period of preparation. Kurosawa conceived the idea ofRan in the mid-1970s, when he read about Motonari, who was famous for having three highly loyal sons. Kurosawa devised a plot in which the sons become antagonists of their father. Although the film became heavily inspired by Shakespeare's playKing Lear, Kurosawa began using it only after he had started preparations forRan. Following these preparations, Kurosawa filmedDersu Uzala in 1975, followed byKagemusha in the early 1980s, before securing financial backing to filmRan.
Ran was Kurosawa's third encounter with Shakespeare during his career. In 1957, Kurosawa directedThrone of Blood, based on Shakespeare'sMacbeth. In 1960, he directed the filmThe Bad Sleep Well, based onHamlet. All three films have received critical acclaim.
As Kurosawa's lastepic,Ran has often been cited as among his finest achievements and is widely regarded as one ofthe greatest films ever made. With a budget of$11–12 million, it was among the most expensive films in the history ofJapanese cinema upon its release.Ran was previewed on May 31, 1985, at theTokyo International Film Festival before its release on June 1, 1985, in Japan. The film was hailed for its powerful images and use of color;costume designerEmi Wada won anAcademy Award for Best Costume Design for her work onRan, and Kurosawa received his only career nomination forBest Director. The distinctivefilm score, inspired byGustav Mahler, was composed byToru Takemitsu.
Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful but elderlywarlord, decides to divide his kingdom among his three sons: Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo will be given the Second and Third Castles. Hidetora is to retain the title of Great Lord and Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro. However, Saburo is exiled after criticizing his father's lecture about unity. Hidetora's retainer Tango is also exiled for defending Saburo.
Following the division of Hidetora's lands between his remaining two sons, Taro's wife, Lady Kaede, still bitter about Hidetora killing her family and taking their land, successfully urges him to usurp control of the entire Ichimonji clan. When Taro demands Hidetora renounce his title, Hidetora leaves and travels to Jiro's castle, only to discover that Jiro is only interested in using Hidetora as a titular pawn. As Hidetora and his retinue wander, Tango warns Hidetora of Taro's new decree: death to whoever aids his father. Hidetora plans to take refuge in the Third Castle, which was abandoned by Saburo's forces (who followed him into exile) and taken over by Taro's general Ogura. Hidetora feels they can take Ogura easily, whereas Kyoami, the courtfool, jokes about Hidetora's predicament, and is yelled at by Hidetora to stay behind if he is afraid. Kyoami and Tango stay outside while Hidetora and the rest of his retinue take refuge in the Third Castle, which they find unoccupied.
Later, Hidetora and his retinue are attacked by Taro and Jiro's combined forces - Taro's men had "abandoned" the castle to lure Hidetora into a false sense of security and ambush him. Taro is killed by a bullet fired by Jiro's general, Kurogane. All of Hidetora's retinue are either killed or commit ritual suicide. Hidetora is allowed to survive and succumbs to madness as he wanders away from the destroyed castle. Kyoami and Tango, still loyal to Hidetora, find him and stay to assist. Hidetora is haunted by visions of the people he killed in the past. They take refuge in a peasant's home only to discover that the occupant is Tsurumaru, the brother of Lady Sue, Jiro's wife. Tsurumaru's eyes were gouged out by Hidetora's forces and he was left impoverished due to Hidetora's siege. With Taro dead, Jiro becomes the Great Lord of the Ichimonji clan, and moves into the First Castle. Lady Kaede manipulates Jiro into having an affair with her, and demands that he kill Lady Sue, and marry her instead. Jiro orders Kurogane to do the deed, but he refuses, seeing through Kaede's perfidy. Kurogane then warns Sue and Tsurumaru to flee. Tango encounters former spies and before killing them, he is informed that Jiro is considering sending assassins after Hidetora. Tango rides off to alert Saburo. As his madness grows, Hidetora runs off into a volcanic plain.
After Saburo's army enters Jiro's territory to find Hidetora, Jiro hastily mobilizes his army. After a truce, Saburo learns from Kyoami of Hidetora's potential location. After Saburo leaves, Jiro attacks Saburo's smaller forces, suffering losses, and orders his remaining forces to retreat after learning of another army marching on the First Castle. Saburo finds Hidetora, who partially recovers his sanity, and reconciles with Saburo. However, Saburo is killed by one of Jiro's snipers. Hidetora dies from grief. Tsurumaru and Sue arrive at the ruins of a castle, but inadvertently leave behind the flute that Sue gave him when he was banished. She gives him a picture of Amida Buddha for protection while she attempts to retrieve the flute. However, she never returns.
As the First Castle is besieged, Kurogane learns of Sue's death, and confronts Kaede. After she confesses her plot was revenge against the entire Ichimonji clan, she is killed by Kurogane. Jiro, Kurogane, and all Jiro's men subsequently die in battle. A funeral procession is held for Saburo and Hidetora. Meanwhile, left alone in the castle ruins, Tsurumaru trips, dropping the Amida Buddha image Sue had given to him.
| Actor | Character | King Lear analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Tatsuya Nakadai | Ichimonji Hidetora (一文字 秀虎) | King Lear |
| Akira Terao | Ichimonji "Taro" Takatora (一文字 太郎 孝虎) | Goneril |
| Jinpachi Nezu | Ichimonji "Jiro" Masatora (一文字 次郎 正虎) | Regan |
| Daisuke Ryu | Ichimonji "Saburo" Naotora (一文字 三郎 直虎) | Cordelia |
| Mieko Harada | Lady Kaede (楓の方) | Edmund |
| Yoshiko Miyazaki | Lady Sue (末の方) | Albany |
| Mansai Nomura | Tsurumaru (鶴丸) | Gloucester |
| Hisashi Igawa | Kurogane (鉄) | |
| Peter | Kyoami (狂阿弥) | Fool |
| Masayuki Yui | Hirayama Tango (平山 丹後) | Kent |
| Kazuo Kato | Ikoma Kageyu (生駒 勘解由) | |
| Jun Tazaki | Ayabe Seiji (綾部 政治) | Duke of Burgundy |
| Hitoshi Ueki | Fujimaki Nobuhiro (藤巻 信弘) | King of France |
Ran was Kurosawa's last epic film and by far his most expensive. At the time, its budget of$11–12 million made it the most expensive Japanese film in history, leading to its distribution in 1985 exceeding the budget of $7.5 million for his previous filmKagemusha.[2][3][4] It is a Japanese-French venture[1] produced byHerald Ace,Nippon Herald Films, and Greenwich Film Productions. Filming started in 1983.[5] The 1,400 uniforms and suits of armor used for the extras were designed bycostume designerEmi Wada and Kurosawa, and were handmade by master tailors over more than two years. The film also used 200horses. Kurosawa loved filming in lush and expansive locations, and most ofRan was shot amidst the mountains and plains ofMount Aso, Japan's largest active volcano. Kurosawa was granted permission to shoot at two of the country's most famous landmarks, the ancient castles atKumamoto andHimeji. For the castle of Lady Sue's family, he used the ruins of the custom-constructed Azusa castle, made by Kurosawa's production crew nearMount Fuji.[6][7][8] Hidetora's third castle, which was burned to the ground, was a real building which Kurosawa built on the slopes of Mount Fuji. No miniatures were used for that segment, and Tatsuya Nakadai had to do the scene where Hidetora flees the castle in one take.[6] Kurosawa also filmed a scene that required an entire field to be sprayed gold, but cut it out of the final film during editing. The documentaryA.K. shows the filming of the scene.
Kurosawa often shot scenes with three cameras simultaneously, each using different lenses and angles. Manylong-shots were employed and very fewclose-ups. On several occasions, Kurosawa used static cameras and suddenly brought the action into frame, rather than using the camera to track the action. He also usedjump cuts to progress certain scenes, changing the pace of the action for filmic effect.[9]
Akira Kurosawa's wife of 39 years,Yōko Yaguchi, died during the production of the film. He halted filming for one day to mourn before resuming work. His regular recording engineerFumio Yanoguchi also died late in production in January 1985.[10]
Personnel taken fromThe Criterion Collection.[11]
Kurosawa conceived of the idea that becameRan in the mid-1970s, when he read a parable about theSengoku-period warlordMōri Motonari. Motonari was famous for having three sons, all incredibly loyal and talented. Kurosawa began imagining what would have happened had they been bad.[12] Although the film eventually became heavily inspired byShakespeare's playKing Lear, Kurosawa became aware of the play only after he had started pre-planning.[13] According to him, the stories of Mōri Motonari and Lear merged in a way he was never fully able to explain. He wrote the script shortly after filmingDersu Uzala in 1975, and then "let it sleep" for seven years.[6] During this time, he paintedstoryboards of every shot in the film (later included with the screenplay and available on theCriterion CollectionDVD release) and then continued searching for funding. Following his success with 1980'sKagemusha, which he later considered a "dress rehearsal" or "dry run" forRan, Kurosawa was finally able to secure backing from French producerSerge Silberman.[14]
Kurosawa once said "Hidetora is me", and there is evidence in the film that Hidetora serves as a stand-in for Kurosawa.[15] Roger Ebert agrees, arguing thatRan "may be as much about Kurosawa's life as Shakespeare's play".[16]Ran was the final film of Kurosawa's "third period" (1965–1985), a time when he had difficulty securing support for his pictures, and was frequently forced to seek foreign financial backing. While he had directed over twenty films in the first two decades of his career, he directed just four in these two decades. After directingRed Beard (1965), Kurosawa discovered that he was considered old-fashioned and did not work again for almost five years. He also found himself competing against television, which had reduced Japanese film audiences from a high of 1.1 billion in 1958 to under 200 million by 1975. In 1968, he was fired from the20th Century Fox epicTora! Tora! Tora! over what he described as creative differences, but others said was a perfectionism that bordered oninsanity. Kurosawa tried to start an independent production group with three other directors, but his 1970 filmDodes'ka-den was a box-office flop and bankrupted the company.[17] Many of his younger rivals boasted that he was finished. A year later, unable to secure any domestic funding and plagued by ill health, Kurosawa attemptedsuicide by slashing his wrists. Though he survived, his misfortune continued to plague him until the late 1980s. According to Stephen Prince, medical treatment and Mosfilm's offer to make a film in Russia (Dersu Uzala) helped Kurosawa's eventual "spiritual recovery."[18]
Kurosawa was influenced by theWilliam Shakespeare playKing Lear and borrowed elements from it.[13] Both depict an aging warlord who decides to divide up his kingdom among his children. Hidetora has three sons – Taro, Jiro, and Saburo – who correspond to Lear's daughtersGoneril,Regan, andCordelia. In both, the warlord foolishly banishes anyone who disagrees with him as a matter of pride – in Lear it is the Earl ofKent and Cordelia; inRan it is Tango and Saburo. The conflict in both is that two of the lord's children ultimately turn against him, while the third supports him, though Hidetora's sons are far more ruthless than Goneril and Regan. BothKing Lear andRan end with the death of the entire family, including the lord.
There are some crucial differences between the two stories.King Lear is a play about undeserved suffering, and Lear himself is at worst a fool. Hidetora, by contrast, has been a cruel warrior for most of his life: a man who ruthlessly murdered men, women, and children to achieve his goals.[19] InRan, Lady Kaede, Lady Sue, and Tsurumaru were all victims of Hidetora. Whereas inKing Lear the character of Gloucester had his eyes gouged out by Lear's enemies, inRan it was Hidetora himself who gave the order to blind Tsurumaru. The role of the Fool has been expanded into a major character (Kyoami).[9] Kurosawa was concerned that Shakespeare gave his characters no past, and he wanted to give his version ofKing Lear a history.[20]
The complex and variant etymology for the wordRan used as the title has been variously translated as "chaos", "rebellion", or "revolt"; or to mean "disturbed" or "confused".
The filming ofRan began in 1983.[5] The development and conception of the filming of the war scenes in the film were influenced by Kurosawa's opinions onnuclear warfare. According to Michael Wilmington, Kurosawa told him that much of the film was a metaphor for nuclear warfare and the anxiety of the post-Hiroshima age.[21] He believed that, despite all of the technological progress of the 20th century, all people had learned was how to kill each other more efficiently.[22] InRan, the vehicle forapocalyptic destruction is thearquebus, an early firearm that was introduced to Japan in the 16th century. Arquebuses revolutionizedsamurai warfare. Kurosawa had already dealt with this theme in his previous filmKagemusha, in which the Takeda cavalry is destroyed by the arquebuses of theOda andTokugawa clans.
InRan, the battle of Hachiman Field is an illustration of this new kind of warfare. Saburo's arquebusiers annihilate Jiro's cavalry and drive off his infantry by engaging them from the woods, where the cavalry are unable to venture. Similarly, Taro and Saburo's assassination by a sniper also shows how individual heroes can be easily disposed of on a modern battlefield. Kurosawa also illustrates this new warfare with his camera. Instead of focusing on the warring armies, he frequently sets the focal plane beyond the action, so that in the film they appear as abstract entities.[23]
The description of Hidetora in the first script was originally based onToshiro Mifune.[20] However, the role was cast toTatsuya Nakadai, an actor who had played several supporting and major characters in previous Kurosawa films, such as Shingen and his double inKagemusha. Other Kurosawa veterans inRan were Masayuki Yui (Tango), Jinpachi Nezu (Jiro) andDaisuke Ryu (Saburo), all of whom were inKagemusha. ForAkira Terao (Taro) andMieko Harada (Lady Kaede),Ran was their first Kurosawa film, but they would go on to work with him again inDreams.Hisashi Igawa (Kurogane), who had previously been in Kurosawa'sDodes'ka-den, would reappear in bothDreams andRhapsody in August. Kurosawa also hired two popular entertainers for supporting roles: singer-dancerShinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata as Hidetora's loyal fool Kyoami and comedian-musicianHitoshi Ueki as rival warlord Nobuhiro Fujimaki. About 1,400extras were employed.[24]
While most of the characters inRan are portrayed by conventional acting techniques, two performances are reminiscent of JapaneseNoh theatre. Noh is a form of Japanese traditional theatre requiring highly trained actors and musicians where emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures. The heavy, ghost-like make-up worn byTatsuya Nakadai's character, Hidetora, resembles the emotive masks worn by traditional Noh performers. The body language exhibited by the same character is also typical of Noh theatre: long periods of static motion and silence, followed by an abrupt, sometimes violent, change in stance. The character of Lady Kaede is also Noh-influenced. The Noh treatment emphasizes the ruthless, passionate, and single-minded natures of these two characters.
Craig Lysy, writing forMovie Music UK, commented on the strengths of the film soundtrack's composer for Kurosawa's purposes: "Tōru Takemitsu was Japan's preeminent film score composer and Kurosawa secured his involvement in 1976, during the project's early stages. Their initial conception of the score was to use tategoe, a "shrill-voice" chant style without instrumentation. Over the intervening years, Kurosawa's conception of the score changed dramatically. As they began production his desire had changed 180 degrees, now insisting on a powerfulMahleresque orchestral score. Takemitsu responded with what many describe as his most romantic effort, one that achieved a perfect blending of Oriental and Occidental sensibilities."[25][26]
Takemitsu has stated that he was significantly influenced by the Japanesekarmic concept ofma, interpreted as a surplus of energy surrounding an abundant void. As Lysy stated: "Takemitsu was guided in his efforts best summed up in the Japanese wordma, which suggests the incongruity of a void abounding with energy. He related: 'My music is like a garden, and I am the gardener. Listening to my music can be compared with walking through a garden and experiencing the changes in light, pattern and texture.'"[26]
The project was the second of two which allowed Kurosawa and Takemitsu to collaborate, the first beingDodes'ka-den in 1970. Lysy summarized the second project stating: "the collaboration between Kurosawa and the temperamental Takemitsu was rocky. Kurosawa constantly sent Takemitsu notes, which only served to infuriate him, so he frequently visited the set to gain a direct sensual experience. Takemitsu actually resigned... Fortunately, producer Masato Hara intervened, made peace, and Takemitsu returned to the film. Years later, Takemitsu would relate: "Overall, I still have this feeling of ... 'Oh, if only he'd left more up to me' ... But seeing it now ... I guess it's fine the way it is.'"[26]
Kurosawa originally had wanted theLondon Symphony Orchestra to perform the score forRan, but upon meeting conductorHiroyuki Iwaki of theSapporo Symphony Orchestra, he engaged Iwaki and the orchestra to record it.[27] Kurosawa had the orchestra play up to 40 takes of the music.[27] The running time of the soundtrack is just over an hour and was re-released in 2016 after its original release in 1985 by Silva Screen Productions. It was produced by Reynold da Silva and David Stoner.[26]
Released on June 1, 1985, the film was modestly successful financially in Japan. It earned¥2.51 billion ($12 million) in Japan, just enough to break even.[28] In France, where it released on 18 September 1985, the film sold 813,081 tickets,[29] grossing an estimated 24,392,430 F ($2,439,243).[30]
In the United States, where it released in December 1985, the film grossed $3,763,760 in its first four weeks of release.[31] Later re-releases between 2000 and 2016 grossed $528,357 in the United States and Canada,[32] bringing its total North American gross to$4,292,117.
In Germany, where it released in 1986, the film sold 222,862 tickets,[33] grossing an estimated €735,440[34] ($714,912).[35] The film also grossed $18,692 in the United Kingdom,[36] and $16,215 in Portugal,[37] bringing the film's total estimated gross to approximately$19,481,179 (equivalent to $57,000,000 in 2024) worldwide.
Ran was critically acclaimed upon its premiere.[38] Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96%, based on 89 reviews, and an average rating of 9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Akira Kurosawa's sprawling, epic take onKing Lear should be required viewing for fans of westerns, war movies, or period films in general."[39] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 97 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[40]
Shawn Levy, of thePortland Oregonian wrote, "In many respects, it's Kurosawa's most sumptuous film, a feast of color, motion and sound: Considering that its brethren includeKagemusha,Seven Samurai andDersu Uzala, the achievement is extraordinary."[41] Writing for theChicago Sun-Times,Roger Ebert said, "Ran is a great, glorious achievement."[42] In theSan Francisco Examiner, G. Allen Johnson stated: "Kurosawa pulled out all the stops withRan, his obsession with loyalty and his love of expressionistic film techniques allowed to roam freely."[43]
Writing for theSan Francisco Chronicle, Bob Graham stated: "InRan, the horrors of life are transformed by art into beauty. It is finally so moving that the only appropriate response is silence."[44]Gene Siskel, writing for theChicago Tribune, wrote: "The physical scale ofRan is overwhelming. It's almost as if Kurosawa is saying to all the cassette buyers of America, in a play on Clint Eastwood's phrase, 'Go ahead, ruin your night' – wait to see my film on a small screen and cheat yourself out of what a movie can be."[45]Vincent Canby, writing forThe New York Times, stated: "Though big in physical scope and of a beauty that suggests a kind of drunken, barbaric lyricism,Ran has the terrible logic and clarity of a morality tale seen in tight close-up, of a myth that, while being utterly specific and particular in its time and place, remains ageless, infinitely adaptable."[46]
Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars, with extended commentary, "Kurosawa (while directingRan) often must have associated himself with the old lord as he tried to put this film together, but in the end he has triumphed, and the image I have of him, at 75, is of three arrows bundled together."[47] In 2000, it was inducted into Ebert'sGreat Movies list.
Notoriously acerbic criticJohn Simon of theNational Review wrote, "I find it as an almost total failure by a genius in his old age".[48]
Michal Sragow, writing forSalon in 2000, summarized the Shakespearean origins of the play: "Kurosawa's Lear is a 16th century warlord who has three sons and a career studded with conquests. Kurosawa's genius is to tell his story so that every step suggests how wild and savage a journey it has been. At the start, this bold, dominating figure, now called Hidetora, is a sacred monster who wants to be a sort of warlord emeritus. He hopes to bequeath power to his oldest son while retaining his own entourage and emblems of command. He hasn't reckoned with the ambition of his successor or the manipulative skill of his heir's wife, who goes for the sexual and political jugular of anyone who invades her sphere."[13] In 2009, the film was voted at No. 59 on the list ofThe Greatest Japanese Films of All Time by Japanese film magazineKinema Junpo.[49]
Ran was completed too late to be entered at Cannes and had its premiere at Japan's firstTokyo International Film Festival.[50] Kurosawa skipped the film's premiere, angering many in the Japanese film industry. As a result, it was not submitted as Japan's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Oscars. Serge Silberman tried to get it nominated as a French co-production but failed. However, American directorSidney Lumet helped organize a campaign to have Kurosawa nominated asBest Director.[51]
Ran was nominated for theAcademy Awards forart direction,cinematography,costume design (which it won), andKurosawa's direction. It was also nominated for aGolden Globe forBest Foreign Language Film. In Japan,Ran was conspicuously not nominated for "Best Picture" at theAwards of the Japanese Academy. However, it won two prizes, for best art direction and best music score, and received four other nominations, for best cinematography, best lighting, best sound, and best supporting actor (Hitoshi Ueki, who played Saburo's patron, Lord Fujimaki).Ran won two awards from theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts, forbest foreign language film and best make-up artist, and was nominated for best cinematography, best costume design, best production design, and best screenplay–adapted. Despite its limited commercial success at the time of its release, the film's accolades have improved greatly, and it is now regarded as one of Kurosawa's masterpieces.[16]
Ran won Best Director and Best Foreign Film awards from theNational Board of Review,[52] a Best Film award and a Best Cinematography award (Takao Saitō, Shōji Ueda, and Asakazu Nakai) from theNational Society of Film Critics, a Best Foreign Language Film award from theNew York Film Critics Circle, a Best Music award (Toru Takemitsu) and a Best Foreign Film award from theLos Angeles Film Critics Association, a Best Film award and a Best Cinematography award from theBoston Society of Film Critics, a Best Foreign Feature award from theAmanda Awards from Norway, aBlue Ribbon Award for Best Film, a Best European Film award from theBodil Awards, a Best Foreign Director award from theDavid di Donatello Awards, aJoseph Plateau Award for Best Artistic Contribution, a Director of the Year award and a Foreign Language Film of the Year award from theLondon Critics Circle Film Awards, a Best Film, a Best Supporting Actor (Hisashi Igawa) and a Best Director from theMainichi Film Concours, and an OCIC award from theSan Sebastian Film Festival.[53][54]
In theBritish Film Institute's 2002Sight & Sound polls of the greatest films ever made,Ran ranked 41st in director's poll.[55] In 2007, the film was ranked at No. 28 byThe Guardian's readers' poll on its list of "40 greatest foreign films of all time".[56] The film was selected inBBC'slist of 100 greatest foreign language films by 209 critics of 43 countries around the world in 2018.[57]
He now regards KAGEMUSHA as a sort of "dress rehearsal" for RAN, an attempt to work out themes and ideas and perhaps even to demonstrate the viability of a grand-scale period film. ... Kurosawa regards KAGEMUSHA as a "dry run" for the more richly conceived, the more deeply personal RAN.
