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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Kurosawa's last undisputed
masterpiece, "Ran" adapts "King Lear" (Shakespeare
was Kurosawa's favorite writer) placing it during
the 16th century in Japan. Like "Throne of Blood"
(another Kurosawa classic that also adapts
"Macbeth") "Ran" melds action with drama in a
unique way that only Kurosawa was able to do. Sure
there have been other directors that have made
films about Japanese culture, Feudalism and the
Samurai but none with the keen insight and
profound glimpse into what makes a culture tick as
well as Kurosawa.
Kurosawa had lost most of his collaborators prior
to the shooting of "Ran." All of that informs the
darkness and his identification for the main
character. While Kurosawa freely borrowed from
"King Lear," he also informed the film with many
issues he faced himself: he felt isolated from the
Japanese filmmaking community and he was
unappreciated in this late phase of his career
having to scramble to get financing (frequently
going overseas to get it). Kurosawa felt isolated
and alone without his collaborators. The loss of
his wife just prior to shooting meant that
Kurosawa threw his raging emotions into "Ran"
using the story of "Lear" as a means to examine
his own personal situation.
A beautiful, rich transfer from Criterion. There's
few digital artifacts and there's virtually none
of the issues that dogged the "Masterworks"
edition of this film. The image isn't cropped (the
"Masterworks" edition had the edge of the frame
cut off) and the high definition transfer looks
marvelous with rich colors, remarkable clarity and
depth to the image. There is noticeable grain but
that's part of the original theatrical
presentation of the film and not a surprise given
that the film is 20 years old. The Dolby Digital
2.0 soundtrack has no noticeable distortion with
nice depth and clarity for both the dialogue and
the music.
Chris Marker's marvelous documentary "AK" is
included as part of the package on the second
disc. That by itself would also make this worth
repurchasing if you're in doubt about it. However,
coupled with the terrific restoration and transfer
done by Criterion here it makes this an essential
purchase for fans of Kurosawa's films. We also get
an appreciation by director Sidney Lumet, an
episode of Toho Masterworks on Kurosawa that's
also quite good (although I prefer Marker's 74
minute documentary). "It is Wonderful to Create"
focuses exclusively on "Ran" while Marker's
documentary is a better overview of the director.
Criterion has also used Kurosawa's original
sketches and paintings to create sections of "Ran"
as Kurosawa original saw it prior to actual
production. Finally there's a new interview with
lead actor Tasuya Kakadai. As usual Criterion has
included an excellent booklet that includes a very
good essay by film critic Michael Wilmington, a
1985 interview with Kurosawa about the making of
the movie and a new interview with "Ran" composer
Toru Takemitsu. This deluxe 2-disc edition makes
the non-anamorphic previous edition look almost
like a videotape by comparison in terms of the
overall quality.
Stephen Prince provides interesting background
about Japanese culture and Kurosawa's film style.
Prince's commentary is a bit dry coming across as
a lecture that one might sit through at UCLA or
USC and isn't all that entertaining but it is
quite informative. Personally, I would have
preferred an interactive commentary with Prince
discussing the film with, say, Lumet, Francis Ford
Coppola or another well-known film director.
This is an essential purchase for fans of
Kurosawa. Kurosawa's last epic is, perhaps, his
darkest and one of his most accomplished. The
extras would make this worth purchasing by
themselves but the beautiful, rich high definition
transfer makes this the best version of "Ran" that
has ever appeared on home video. I highly
recommend this film. |
