{"id":4599,"date":"2009-06-07T20:14:55","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T04:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2009-06-19T16:37:15","modified_gmt":"2009-06-20T00:37:15","slug":"ran-akira-kurosawa-1985-france-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4599","title":{"rendered":"Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985): France \/ Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by <a title=\"Kathleen Amboy\" href=\"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?author=49\">Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adorocinema.com\/filmes\/ran\/ran07.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"200\" \/>Where does one begin when describing a beautiful work of art?\u00a0 Late in his career and near retirement, Akira Kurosawa co-wrote and directed his feudal epic <a title=\"Ran\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0089881\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Ran<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0It is a film\u00a0that is\u00a0visually stunning and dramatic, and indeed a beautiful work of art.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ran\u00a0<\/em>(meaning chaos) unintentionally follows the story of Shakespeare&#8217;s King Lear.\u00a0 As with Lear, Hidetora abdicates his kingdom to his three sons (not daughters), while still retaining ultimate authority.\u00a0 The eldest two (Taro and Jiro)\u00a0are compliant towards their father&#8217;s decision and immediately begin to control their own\u00a0territories.\u00a0 The youngest son (Saburo) is convinced his father is making a drastic mistake and tries to dissuade him.\u00a0 Despite his honorable efforts, Saburo is banished from the kingdom, while his worst fears are realized: \u00a0his two older brothers have stripped their father of all his dignity.<\/p>\n<p>What is fascinating about this film, is that despite its epic sized\u00a0proportion, it is exceedingly stagey and intimate.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly every\u00a0frame gives one the sensation of viewing a finely crafted stage production from beginning to end.\u00a0 Kurosawa&#8217;s instinct \u00a0for balance means the music (or lack thereof), location and cinematography, as well as the action and direction\u00a0are all crucial in his storytelling&#8211;not to mention the use of color\u00a0in order to discern the fallen as well as the victorious.\u00a0 One battle scene will leave you in a trance, as the\u00a0speed is slowed down to the faint strains of non-digetic music.<\/p>\n<p>Emotions and conflicts abound within the plot, as we realize jealousy and betrayal,\u00a0 lust and greed, as well as loyalty, are human traits that always will\u00a0remain with us\u00a0regardless of the time in which we live.<\/p>\n<p>Kurosawa secured financing for\u00a0his masterpiece\u00a0with the help of Serge Silberman of France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. Where does one begin when describing a beautiful work of art?\u00a0 Late in his career and near retirement, Akira Kurosawa co-wrote and directed his feudal epic Ran. \u00a0It is a film\u00a0that is\u00a0visually stunning and dramatic, and indeed a beautiful work of art. Ran\u00a0(meaning chaos) unintentionally follows the story [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}