King Lear is my absolute favorite play from William Shakespeare, and one of my favorite pieces of literature in general. It looks at a family in crisis as an elderly king abdicates his throne and divides his land amongst his three daughters. But two of his daughters are conniving, don't love their father, and use verbal trickery to take away everything that the king has. His third daughter is banished for not praising Lear with flattering words, but it turns out she is the only one that truly loves him. Frustration and guilt compounds his senility and drives him mad where he then tears out of his castle and into a raging storm. As his family falls into chaos Lear, his fool, and a crazed beggar try to seek out the third daughter for protection, and to calm angry waters.
It is a masterful story, and seeing it performed is a joy. King Lear is one of the greatest characters penned in a gloomy story of the betrayal of familial bonds. Akira Kurosawa, the great Japanese auteur, reimagines this classic tale, and sets it in feudal Japan, where the old Lord Hidetora Ichimonji gives his power over to his eldest son. The tales goes very similar to Shakespeare's, but with genders reversed and much more violence. The result is an amazing feat: one of the greatest directors of all time takes one of the best known plays and remakes it into something that is fresh and interesting and bursting with imagination. It is lonely, beautiful, desolate, and above all it is a great movie-going experience.
The script is written by Kurosawa which at first made me very nervous. I was not sure whether Shakespeare would hold the same power without his own words. I learned, however, that Ran was not originally meant to be an interpretation of the play. Kurosawa spent ten years writing the script and it was only during the writing process that that was what the narrative evolved in to. His script is great on its own. When I watch a movie by him it seems that everything that he does is like a poem. Everything he writes and everything he directs is like a haiku; there are so many layers to the staccato sentences and sharp imagery that reveal themselves one at a time. It did not lose its power. His words enhance his point of view, rather, and complete that traditional Japanese aesthetic that he is so fond of.
I wondered at first why "Lear" would be something that Kurosawa would undertake. I realized that I was being stupid in not realizing that that the story is about greed, loyalty, and most importantly it is about honor. That is Kurosawa's key word, and the pieces fall into place. Lear, or in this case Hidetora, is a man scorned by one son--so he believes--and betrayed by two of the people that ought to have been the most loyal to him. His unraveling seems like the perfect spectacle to watch, and so it is interesting that he does not focus so much on the Lear character, but rather chooses to spend more time watching the two elder, evil sons, and the feuding that they do with each other trying to fight for land and power.
When he does choose to focus on Hidetora it is really special. Tatsuya Nakadai was much younger than the character is supposed to be, and I generally regard Lear as the type of character that should only be attempted by the oldest and best of classically trained actors, but hell if that man did not make me stick my foot in my mouth. He gave a terrific performance that was both respectful of the material as well as over the top, but never once did it become cartoonish (despite his pancake makeup). There were half a dozen other strong performances, but if you are going to look at one look at this one, because a lot of young actors could take some notes on physicality by watching this guy.
The locations and sets are beautiful. They were the perfect backdrops for the two battle sequences. Ugh...if Kurosawa was only allowed to do one thing in his entire life I would wish it to be choreographing battle sequences. There is nobody else that has ever worked in cinema that could do it better than he. For some reason, when I watch big battles in films like The Lord of the Rings, or Saving Private Ryan, or so many others, I feel a strange disconnect from the characters and the action. Maybe because everything seems so rehearsed and far too smooth. When I watched the battles in Ran there was a sense a dread in seeing those men in the their armor sloshing their way through the mud carrying unwieldy spears. They look like real men who are afraid of death, but charge anyway because they have pride. That pride would not stop them from flinching, though, if a sword barely missed them. That flinch makes it real, and Kurosawa new that. There is nothing polished about them, and the choreography seems broad which makes it seem so much more dangerous, and therefore that much more terrifying. They are beautiful, terrible, and really bloody which is really awesome.
This is a great film, and is my favorite of his work--though Seven Samurai is the better film. There is something so sad and powerful about the final shot of the movie that still haunts me. It is a movie to be watched and adored by fans of war films, cowboy films, old literature, and costume dramas alike. Watch and adore, please.
4/4
*P.S. Hero pays lots of homage to this film.
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