Ran

Cinema Classics on DVD Curated Collection


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Ran -2 Disc Special Edition

Ran is Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. King Lear's counterpart is an elderly 16th-century warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai), who announces that he's about to divide his kingdom equally among his three sons. In his dotage, he falls prey to the false flattery of his treacherous sons (Akira Terao and Jinpachi Nezu), while banishing his youngest son (Daisuke Ryu), the only member of the family who loves him enough to tell him the unvarnished truth. Deftly employing all of the techniques associated with his long career, Kurosawa creates a powerful portrayal of a kingdom coming apart at the seams. Ran is a masterwork of one of the world's great directors.

DVD - The Criterion Collection

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Widescreen
Commentary by film historian Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa
Audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
An appreciation of the film by director Sidney Lumet
"A.K.," a 74-minute making-of film by director Chris Marker
"Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create," a 37-minute documentary
"Image: Kurosawa's Continuity," a 35-minute video piece
New video interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai
Original theatrical trailer
New essay by film critic Michael Wilmington
New and improved English subtitle translation

Curator's Comments:
Roger Ebert's essay on this DVD Classic.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Color
160 minutes
Released: 1985
Rated: R

Country: Japan
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Genre: Drama/War

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