Ran (1985)
I am not very knowledgeable on King Lear or Shakespeare but it is easy to see how this is an adapted play, even though it is epic in scale. The movie feels both small and big in scale, where we see big battles in open landscape, but the focus is very much on the few people all trying to become the new warlord. It is kept within the family and we don’t really see any regular normal people in this world.
The cinematography is among the best I have ever seen. Especially the battle sequence with only music is spectacular. In places it looks like a black and white movie with a few very colorful flags and uniforms that stand out - making for some amazing shots. Kurosawa worked for a decade on paintings for a story book and that shows. Every scene looks like it is taken out of a painting.
As much as I adored the look of this film, I wasn’t nearly as excited for the rest of the story - thus this being just short of being a 5 star film for me. It is a fascinating and tragic portrayal of how lust for power ruins absolutely everything. Basically every character mostly show one emotion - anger. All very convincingly performed none the less, but it isn’t a film I will keep thinking about for several weeks from now.
Rating: 4