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.
| 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 |
| 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 |
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 epic, full of metaphors Read more »
