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Ran
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Ran
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- 1985
- Akira Kurosawa
- 155 mins
- 12A
Summary
Akira Kurosawa's epic drama based on King Lear, starring Tatsuya Nakadai. Japan in the 16th century: Hidetora, an aged warlord, plans to divide his land among his three sons. But the youngest, Saburo, incurs the old man's wrath. Before long, the heirs to the kingdom are at war and chaos reigns.
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Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
David Parkinson
Having reworked Macbeth in Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa tackled another Shakespearean tragedy, King Lear, in this majestic epic, in which a ruler's decision to partition his land between his sons plunges his realm into civil war. There is so much to admire here, but special mention must be made of Kurosawa's genius as a storyteller and his masterly movement of the camera (particularly in the stunning battle sequences). It also would be remiss not to hail the remarkable performances of Tatsuya Nakadai as the repentant monarch and Mieko Harada as his Machiavellian daughter-in-law, the sumptuous use of colour and period detail by production designers Yoshiro and Shinobu Muraki and the Oscar-winning costumes by Emi Wada. A true classic.
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8.2/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameLord HidetoraTatsuya NakadaiTaroAkira TeraoJiroJinpachi NezuSaburoDaisuke RyuLady KaedeMieko HaradaThe FoolPeter KyoamiKuroganeHisashi IgawaTangoMasayuki YuiLady SuéYoshiko Miyazaki
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Crew
rolenameDirectorAkira Kurosawa
Details
Theatrical distributor
Studio Canal
Released on
2016-04-01
Languages
Japanese
Guidance
Violence.
Available on
video, DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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