Ran
1985 · 160 min
Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Written by Akira Kurosawa. Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryū.
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
Critics 96% · audiences 94% · streaming on Kanopy, Plex, Tubi · $3.6 million in the US and Canada on its first run · $33,000 elsewhere · about 1.0 million tickets sold, 0.43% of the country · 4 Oscar nominations, 1 won
How it got made
Ran was Kurosawa's last epic film and by far his most expensive. At the time, its budget of made it the most expensive Japanese film in history, leading to its distribution in 1985 exceeding the budget of $7.5 million for his previous film Kagemusha. It is a Japanese-French venture produced by Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films, and Greenwich Film Productions. Filming started in 1983. The 1,400 uniforms and suits of armor used for the extras were designed by costume designer Emi Wada and Kurosawa, and were handmade by master tailors, taking three years. The film also used 200 horses. Kurosawa loved filming in lush and expansive locations, and most of Ran was shot amidst the mountains and plains of Mount Aso, Japan's largest active volcano. Kurosawa was granted permission to shoot at two of the country's most famous landmarks, the ancient castles at Kumamoto and Himeji. For the castle of Lady Sue's family, he used the ruins of the custom-constructed Azusa castle, made by Kurosawa's production crew near Mount Fuji. Hidetora's third castle, which was burned to the ground, was a real building which Kurosawa built on the slopes of Mount Fuji. No miniatures were used for that segment, and Tatsuya Nakadai had to do the scene where Hidetora flees the castle in one take. Kurosawa also filmed a scene that required an entire field to be sprayed gold, but cut it out of the final film during editing. The documentary A.K. shows the filming of the scene.
Kurosawa often shot scenes with three cameras simultaneously, each using different lenses and angles. Many long-shots were employed and very few close-ups. On several occasions, Kurosawa used static cameras and suddenly brought the action into frame, rather than using the camera to track the action. He also used jump cuts to progress certain scenes, changing the pace of the action for filmic effect.
Akira Kurosawa's wife of 39 years, Yōko Yaguchi, died during the production of the film. He halted filming for one day to mourn before resuming work. His regular recording engineer Fumio Yanoguchi also died late in production in January 1985.
At the box office
Released on June 1, 1985, the film was modestly successful financially in Japan. It earned ($12 million) in Japan, just enough to break even. In France, where it released on 18 September 1985, the film sold 813,081 tickets, grossing an estimated F ().
In the United States, where it released in December 1985, the film grossed $3,763,760 in its first four weeks of release. Later re-releases between 2000 and 2016 grossed $528,357 in the United States and Canada, bringing its total North American gross to .
In Germany, where it released in 1986, the film sold 222,862 tickets, grossing an estimated ($714,912). The film also grossed $18,692 in the United Kingdom, and $16,215 in Portugal, bringing the film's total estimated gross to approximately worldwide.