Ran: Apocalypse Song
By November 21, 2005
Ran is the late masterpiece and testament of a great director contemplating his own twilight—and the world’s as well. It’s a tragedy fed by Shakespeare, Noh, and the samurai Read more »
- Japan
- 1985
- 160 minutes
- Color
- 1.85:1
- Japanese
SYNOPSIS: With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare’s King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa’s late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Hidetora Ichimonji | Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Taro | Akira Terao |
| Jiro | Jinpachi Nezu |
| Saburo | Daisuke Ryu |
| Kaede | Mieko Harada |
| Sue | Yoshiko Miyazaki |
| Tsurumaru | Takeshi Nomura |
| Kurogane | Hisashi Igawa |
| Kyoami (the fool) | Peter |
| Tango | Masayuki Yui |
| Shirane | Kenji Kodama |
| Naganuma | Toshiya Ito |
| Ogura | Norio Matsui |
Credits
| Director | Akira Kurosawa |
| Producer | Katsumi Furukawa, Masato Hara and Serge Silberman |
| Screenplay | Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide |
| Production managers | Teruyo Nogami, Seikichi Iizumi, Satoru Izeki and Takashi Ohashi |
| Production coordinator | Hisao Kurosawa |
| Cinematography | Takao Saitô and Masaharu Ueda |
| Lighting | Takeji Sano |
| Production design | Yoshiro Muraki and Shinobu Muraki |
| Costume design | Emi Wada |
| Music | Toru Takemitsu |
| Sound | Shotaro Yoshida and Fumio Yanoguchi |
| Sound effects | Ichiro Minawa |
| Associate director | Ishiro Honda |
| Assistant directors | Kunio Nozaki, Ichiro Yamamoto, Okihiro Yoneda, Bunsuki Okada and Koizumi Takashi |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Stephen Prince
- An appreciation of the film by director Sidney Lumet
- A.K., a 74-minute film by director Chris Marker
- A 30-minute documentary on the making of Ran, from the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
- A 35-minute video piece reconstructing Ran through Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches, created as part of the series Image: Kurosawa’s Continuity
- Video interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai
- Theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Wilmington and interviews with Kurosawa and composer Toru Takemitsu
