To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its release in the UK, Akira Kurosawa’s last epic ‘Ran’ returns to cinemas, this time restored in 4K.
Anniversary or no anniversary, this was a film begging to be remastered in the highest of definitions. When at the first of two battles sequences ends about an hour into the film with warlord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) leaving his burning palace to an audience of opposing armies, it is one of the most striking images ever committed to celluloid, and the bigger and sharper it can be seen the better.
“Ran” delivers many scenes that still pack an awe-inspiring punch despite the fact that by the time of the film’s release, much of Kurosawa’s innovation had been absorbed into the Hollywood mainstream. It’s telling then that that montage of moments drenched in blood recalls the beginning of Kurosawa’s earlier “Rashomon” (1950) with its scene drenched in water. “Rashomon” went on to become recognized as one of the greatest ever made, winning both the Golden Lion at Venice, and an Academy Award, changing the course of Kurosawa’s career which would be considered essentially bookended by “Rashomon,” and “Ran” (1985).
While Kurosawa himself absorbed Hollywood through his idol, Westerns director John Ford (apparently when asked once to name which directors he would count as masters of the art, Kurosawa replied “John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford”), his own influence was then reassimilated through George Lucas, who combined cowboy serials of the mid-twentieth century, Leni Reifenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will” and Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” to make a little film called “Star Wars.” In this context, “Ran,” first released two years after “Return of the Jedi” can be read as Kurosawa’s attempt to claim back some of the prestige after a few years of unsuccessful films.
He wholeheartedly succeeded. The “Star Wars” films got increasingly worse as they replaced the influence of the Japanese master with the influence of various toy manufacturers, and here, Kurosawa reminded the world what was lacking. Although the film is melodramatic, epic, and undeniably brutal, so too is it still and contemplative, its balancing of these elements simply masterful.
Kurosawa shoots long takes, which pay respect to his actors and characters by almost never moving the camera whilst they are speaking. He leaves gaps of pure silence in which his actors can emote (or not in the case of a stunning shot mid-battle when Hidetora looks stoically on as flaming arrows fly behind him). Many directors would make this approach seem stagy, but Kurosawa deliberately breaks some of the rules of theater, having actors with their back to the camera.
This stillness characteristic of Japanese directors (Yasujiro Ozu is another master) in turn is balanced by a very Hollywood use of color. The opening scene, where Hidetora’s sons and advisors sit around him each wearing a different colored robe whilst the warlord wear off-white, could be the opening of a Hollywood musical, and the shade of blood used throughout is of a hyperreal techicolor red that will be familiar to any Hitchcock fans.
Being given the chance to see the film in the cinema is an opportunity not to pass up, especially as blockbuster filmmaking as we know it stems from much of Kurosawa’s work; from the aforementioned “Star Wars,” to every female character in “Kill Bill” (check Ran’s Lady Kaede played by Mieko Harada). Every one of the approximately twelve million battles across the “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” films can be considered to come from here too, as do the grey-and-storm-clouds imagery of “Game of Thrones.”
Kurosawa is beloved by international cinephiles, and though he was not always revered so highly in his native Japan, he was a career-maker for many of Japan’s stars (to cite one example among many, the Kyoto Film Festival has an award named after his most frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune, and is judged in part by his scriptwriter Teruyo Nogami), but hopefully this re-release will show his genius to a whole new audience.
“Ran” opens April 8 at all good cinemas.
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