RAN - DVD review

If Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" (1985) was nothing more than eye candy, it would still be a magnificent treat. More than anything else, "Ran" is a film composed of gorgeous, oversaturated colors. The blues are as blue as can be, the reds redder than any you have ever seen. Kurosawa situates his dark, somber narrative in a world full of lush nature panoramas, all shimmering fields of vernal green grass and azure skies of deepest summer. After watching "Ran," you can close your eyes and still see the kaleidoscope of colors still pulsing and swirling in a maelstrom.

"Ran" is a visual spectacle with few peers, and it is also a testament to the unrivaled power of reality. The film features several breathtaking battle sequences, most notably the epic clash at the Third Castle which marks the dramatic mid-point of the story. Yet "Ran," released at the cusp of the digital age, does not have a single computer-generated effect or digitally enhanced image. When hundreds of soldiers mass on opposite sides of the battlefield, you stand witness to a real event: real people in real locations. The power of the photograph stems from its source in physical reality, its "documentary" aspect if you will. The battle scenes in "Ran" are not just kinetically charged scenes, but are documents of impressive logistic achievements. The film derives much of its power from the heft and weight of this tangible reality which cannot yet be rivaled with a computer.

Of course, "Ran" is much more than mere eye candy. Adapted from Shakespeare's "King Lear", this grand tragedy centers on the aging Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai, serving as our Lear), a fierce warrior who now wishes to retire. He chooses to divide his land among his three sons. He will grant them each one of the three castles in his empire, and will spend his blissful twilight years visiting each of them. Taro (Akira Terao) and Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu) compliment their father on his great wisdom and flatter him by recounting his many great deeds. The youngest son Saburo (Daisuke Ryu, our Coredlia), however, openly questions his father's decision, warning him of his folly. A furious Hidetora banishes Saburo, much to the delight of the other two sons.

Saburo is soon proven right. Egged on by his scheming wife, the deliciously malevolent Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada), Taro humiliates his father and sends him off to Jiro where he receives no warmer a welcome. Betrayal piles upon betrayal and even the most sacred of trusts are violated: son battles father, brother clashes with brother, husbands and wives deceive one another. Only his rapidly descending madness saves Hidetora from being murdered by his own son. "Ran" translates as "chaos" and the rigid order of medieval Japanese society is revealed as nothing more than a thin veneer designed to hide the flawed and evil nature of the people within it.

The film offers many memorable characters. Nakadai's starring turn is unforgettable, but the most enduring character for me is Kyoami (played by an actor identified only as Peter) who is "The Fool" in Kurosawa's adaptation. As all semblance of order breaks down, he is left to wander the wilderness along with Hidetora. Kyoami openly mocks hs master, but does so out of love and loyalty. As in Shakespeare's play, the Fool is the one who, paradoxically, is wise. He sums up events with an insightful economy: "Heaven and earth have gone topsy-turvy." The lowly Kyoami becomes the great lord's caretaker as well as his conscience, though both to little avail. Nobody in this film, neither good nor bad, neither wise nor foolish, will meet with a happy ending.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. I speak not of Hidetora, but of Akira Kurosawa who was 75 years old when "Ran" was finally released. The project was a labor of love for the acclaimed master (often simply called "Sensei" by many) and took nearly ten years from when Kurosawa first began to write the script to the completion of shooting. For Kurosawa, "Ran" was perhaps his most important film: "I feel as a though ‘Ran' is my life work."

"Ran" is certainly the work of a master at the height of his powers, but it also the work of a master who is acutely conscious of his legacy. Every moment carries the burden of its own significance; nowhere to be seen are the casual, throwaway moments, the intimacy, or even the crude humor that enlivened many of Kurosawa's earlier films. In films like "The Seven Samurai" (1954), Kurosawa seemed to travel alongside his characters at ground level; in "Ran" he soars above them like an omniscient, dispassionate god. "Ran" is an extraordinary achievement by any measure, nearly perfect in many ways, but also cool and aloof. This is hardly a flaw: the same can be said of many of the defining works of Antonioni or Kubrick. However, I prefer the heat, the grit, and the intimacy of some of his earlier movies such as "Yojimbo" (1961), "High and Low" (1963) and especially "Throne of Blood" (1957), my favorite Kurosawa film and, in my humble opinion, the greatest of all Shakespeare movie adaptations.

This is simply a matter of taste, however, and you are not wrong if you consider "Ran" to be Kurosawa's crowning achievement. For all its grandeur, the success of "Ran" boils down to a simple point: it is fun to watch. Even at two hours and forty minutes, this heartily satisfying epic flies by and only leaves the viewer wanting more.

"Ran" was previously released by Wellspring in a disappointing "Masterworks" edition, and before that by Fox Lorber in an version best left unmentioned. Criterion has more than corrected the flaws of the previous releases, as I discuss in the following sections.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. In his review of "Ran: the Masterworks Edition" from Wellspring, our own Eddie Feng wrote of the many problems in the transfer, including "excessive shimmering," mis-timed colors and excessive debris from the source print. Criterion's high-definition digital transfer shares none of these shortcomings. The colors are rich and vibrant, enough to make me wish I owned a high-def television just to fully appreciate them. This transfer also preserves the majesty of Kurosawa's exquisite widescreen compositions. The image quality is crystal clear with no apparent blemishes.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. The digitally remastered soundtrack sounds great, and does justice to Toru Takemitsu's classical score which combines both Eastern and Western elements. Optional English language subtitles support the Japanese audio.

Extras

Disc One includes the digitally restored film accompanied by a feature-length commentary track by film scholar Stephen Prince. The disc also includes a an "appreciation" by Sidney Lumet who explains why he prefers "Ran" among all of Kurosawa's films. There are also four original Theatrical Trailers on Disc One.

Disc Two offers a bevy of extras to appease the die-hard Kurosawa fan, though there is no single stand-out feature in the group.

"A.K" (1985, 74 min.): Chris Marker is one of the greatest and most poetic of all documentarians, so it is mildly surprising that "A.K." is such a pedestrian effort. Though the documentary discusses several of Kurosawa's movies, it was filmed on the set of "Ran." The on-set footage of Kurosawa provides a fascinating insight into his method of working, especially his reliance on a core of long-time trusted crew members (his own real-life Seven Samurai.) However, the movie turns out to be more hagiography than documentary, and indulges in its gluey reverence of the master filmmaker.

"Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create." (30 min.): An episode of the "Toho Masterworks" television series, this was shot shortly after Kurosawa's death. It is a fairly standard overview of Kurosawa's career with a heavy focus on "Ran."

"Image: Kurosawa's Continuity" (36 min.): Directed by Masyuki Yui (who played Taro in "Ran"), this short film retells "Ran" using Kurosawa's original storyboards along with audio from the film. Kurosawa labored over his storyboards both for his own sake and to help secure funding for the film, and some of them reflect his skills as a painter. It gets a bit tiring, but I found this to be the most interesting feature in the whole collection.

"Tatsuya Nakadai" (10 min.): An interview recorded in 2005 with the lead actor of "Ran." Nakadai was barely in his 50s when "Ran" was filmed, which makes his depiction of the venerable Hidetora even more impressive. In his seventies when this interview was conducted, he looks remarkably hale and hearty.

The two-disc collection also includes a 28-page booklet which includes an essay by critic Michael Wilmington and an interview with Kurosawa.

Closing Thoughts

It took a few tries, but the definitive DVD release of "Ran" has finally arrived. "Ran" is a late-career achievement that proves Kurosawa was every as vital a filmmaker at age 75 was he was in his youth. "Ran" was hardly his last hurrah. "Dreams" (1990)" and "Rhapsody in August" (1991) were also superior efforts by the then-octogenarian director. Kurosawa was not always appreciated during his career, particularly by Japanese audiences, but both critics and viewers were eager to embrace him in his later days. With "Ran," he certainly didn't disappoint any of his new-found converts.