Akira Kurosawa’s Ran: 40th Anniversary 4K Collector’s Edition (12A) |Home Ents Review
Dir. Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1985, 160 mins, in Japanese with English subtitles
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Review by Colin Dibben
Kurosawa’s version is set during Japan’s 16th century civil wars. Hidetora Ichimonji (Nakadai) is an ageing warlord who decides to abdicate and divide his kingdom amongst his three sons.
When Hidetora’s youngest son Saburo (Ryû) voices concerns about the wisdom of his father’s plan, Hidetora mistakes these comments for a threat and banishes him. This allows Taro (Terao) and Jiro (Nezu) to take the reins of power unopposed, leading to a brutal and bloody struggle to win absolute power.
If you know Kurosawa’s earlier films set in Japan’s feudal era (for example Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Hidden Fortress) you’ll be a bit surprised by the stately, static look of much of Ran, which owes, outside of the battle sequences and especially in Nakadai’s central performance, something to traditional Japanese theatre. Even the beautifully crafted and colour-coded war scenes are aesthetically appealing in terms of shot composition rather than dynamic and gritty.
The version presented here was restored in digital 4K in 2015. The majority of the restoration work was carried out manually, image by image. The restoration’s colour grading was approved by Masaharu Ueda, one of the three cinematographers who worked on Ran.
Kurosawa’s final film garnered numerous awards, including the Oscar for Best Costume Design and BAFTA awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Makeup.
The special four-disc, 40th Anniversary 4K Collector’s Edition features both 4K UHD and Blu-ray versions of the film, as well as:
- a CD of Tôru Takemitsu’s original soundtrack
- a 100-page booklet
- 2 posters
Disc extras include several excellent features:
- AK – Chris Marker’s insightful feature documentary about the making of Ran
- Ran: The Restoration – details of the painstaking 2015 restoration
- Interview with director of photography Shoji Ueda
- The Art of the Samurai – a look at the historical décor and dress that inform the art direction in the film
