For a long time I've put off seeing this movie, despite all the good things I've heard and read about it, because I never like King Lear, but I think I need to make time soon to watch this, especially since Japanese history fascinates me.
I saw it years ago and it was brilliant.
A funny thing: Sidney Lumet asked Akira Kurosawa why he chose to film a shot in Ran in a certain way and Kurosawa said that if he panned one inch to the left, you would see the Sony factory and if he panned one inch to the right, you would see the airport 🤣🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8)
:thumbup:
I paid way too much to purchase the out of print Criterion Collection edition of Ran years ago
https://www.criterion.com/films/754-ran (https://www.criterion.com/films/754-ran)
Thanks for raising the specter of RAN. I saw it on A&E maybe a year or two after it was released, making it my first Kurosawa and also making me entirely too young to get it. I was confounded, but the violence (and VERY red splatters of blood) in addition to all the histrionic behavior did keep me fascinated. I first read Shakespeare's play a few years later and I think seeing RAN first actually helped me understand LEAR, fwiw. Thus, even on only one (?) viewing (I might've watched it a second time in high school), it strikes me as an ideal adaptation. ER, I think you would get something out of it even or especially as you are not a fan of the play. Many of the shots and sequences remain vivid in my mind today. And, I should revisit it!
Perhaps the failing is mine but I've never felt I enjoyed seeing even one Kurosawa movie. I enjoy (translations) of Japanese literature, much of Japanese culture, cuisine, some of the ethos of the culture resonates in me, but these films do not reach me, even in cases where I perceive their quality. Oh, well, shagata ganai, I suppose.
Quote from: Trevor on April 19, 2023, 01:06:40 AM
I saw it years ago and it was brilliant.
A funny thing: Sidney Lumet asked Akira Kurosawa why he chose to film a shot in Ran in a certain way and Kurosawa said that if he panned one inch to the left, you would see the Sony factory and if he panned one inch to the right, you would see the airport 🤣🤣
Not the first viewer / film critic to overanalyze a scene. I'll always remember an interview with David Cronenberg about "Crash", the interviewer thought there were so many from behind sex scenes because they were an analogy to fender-benders. Cronenberg laughed and said it was the only way to show both the actors' faces in the same shot.