Ran (1985 film)
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| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
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| Music by | Toru Takemitsu |
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| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa |
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162 minutes |
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| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $12 million (Japan) |
Ran (, Japanese for "chaos") is a 1985 period tragedy directed, edited and co-written by Akira Kurosawa as an adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, including segments based on legends of the daimyō Mōri Motonari. The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. It is a Japanese-French venture produced by Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films and Greenwich Film Productions.
Production planning of Ran went through a long period of preparation. Kurosawa first conceived of the idea that would become Ran in the mid-1970s, when he read about the Sengoku-era warlord Mōri Motonari. Motonari was famous for having three highly loyal sons. Kurosawa then began seriously considering the theme of reversing the loyalty of the sons in a revised plot where the sons of a new film would be antagonists of their father. Although the film became heavily inspired by Shakespeare's play King Lear, Kurosawa only began using it after he had started pre-planning for Ran. Following this pre-planning, Kurosawa then filmed Dersu Uzala in 1975 followed by Kagemusha in the early 1980s before returning to film Ran after securing financial backing.
Ran was Kurosawa's last epic, and has often been cited as amongst his finest achievements. With a budget of $11 million, it was the most expensive Japanese film ever produced up to that time. Ran was previewed on May 31, 1985 at the Tokyo International Film Festival before its release on June 1, 1985 in Japan. The film was hailed for its powerful images and use of color—costume designer Emi Wada won an Academy Award for Costume Design for her work on Ran. The distinctive Gustav Mahler–inspired film score was composed by Toru Takemitsu.
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