Ran

Akira Kurosawa

Japan

1985

160 minutes

Color

1.85:1

Japanese

316

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

Hidetora IchimonjiTatsuya Nakadai
TaroAkira Terao
JiroJinpachi Nezu
SaburoDaisuke Ryu
KaedeMieko Harada
SueYoshiko Miyazaki
TsurumaruTakeshi Nomura
KuroganeHisashi Igawa
Kyoami (the fool)Peter
TangoMasayuki Yui
ShiraneKenji Kodama
NaganumaToshiya Ito
OguraNorio Matsui

Credits

DirectorAkira Kurosawa
ProducerKatsumi Furukawa, Masato Hara and Serge Silberman
ScreenplayAkira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide
Production managersTeruyo Nogami, Seikichi Iizumi, Satoru Izeki and Takashi Ohashi
Production coordinatorHisao Kurosawa
CinematographyTakao Saitô and Masaharu Ueda
LightingTakeji Sano
Production DesignYoshiro Muraki and Shinobu Muraki
Costume designEmi Wada
MusicToru Takemitsu
SoundShotaro Yoshida and Fumio Yanoguchi
Sound effectsIchiro Minawa
Associate directorIshiro Honda
Assistant directorsKunio 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

From the Current

Ran: Apocalypse Song

by Michael Wilmington Nov 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...

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The Auteurs Forum

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Ran is now officially OOP

54 posts by 37 people updated 18 days ago

Best Director: 1986 - KUROSAWA OR STONE?

30 posts by 24 people updated 7 months ago

Blu-Ran!

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Relationship between Ran and King Lear

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Available Editions

316_ran_w128 Out of Print

DVD

2 Discs

SRP: $39.95