- The pictorial beauty of Kurosawa’s landscape long shots are masterpiece worthy—Kurosawa makes great use of every extra, color flourish in the frame, and set piece –whether it’s the mountains in the final climax battle, the valley in the opening, or the castle on fire in the film’s best sequence

one of sublime images in the opening of Kurosawa’s 27th feature film
- Second to the stunning long shots- I have to praise the formal elements Kurosawa goes back to again and again with the shot of the clouds and meditating on dreams and fate (the shot happens 7-8 times- once claiming “paradise”)—this cutaway shot should trigger muscle memory for students and admirers of Kurosawa as he implored a similar formal cutaway strategy in Rashomon. There’s probably even more meaning here tying the visual to the narrative as it is actually Lord Hidetora Ichimonji’s (played by Tatsuya Nakadai) dream

the shot (and variations on it) happen 7-8 times

formal elements– Kurosawa goes back to again and again with the shot of the clouds and meditating on dreams and fate —this cutaway shot should trigger muscle memory for students and admirers of Kurosawa as he implored a similar formal cutaway strategy in Rashomon
- There’s a strong shot in the opening twenty minutes- in front of a mountain. Nakadai is flanked on both sides- men facing him perfectly balanced back of heads. It doesn’t quite equate to Kurosawa’s early 1960’s work in Tohoscope black and white widescreen

There’s a strong shot in the opening twenty minutes- in front of a mountain. Nakadai is flanked on both sides- men facing him perfectly balanced back of heads. It doesn’t quite equate to Kurosawa’s early 1960’s work in Tohoscope black and white widescreen
- Another Kurosawa Shakespeare adaptation– King Lear but set in Feudal Japan—this makes for a companion piece to Throne of Blood of course (1957)
- Gorgeous bright primary color costume work- a deserving winner of the Oscar for that category
- Shot at 22 minutes- long shot on the hill

the art of the long shot– from Buster Keaton to Lawrence of Arabia

Topography
- There are really only two types of shots here in the film—there is the long shot (battle sequences mainly and establishing/landscape shots) and the medium shots where most of the dialogue is delivered—a chamber drama- interior shots that relatively unspecial visually. The long shots are stunning and I frankly wish it was more of running time— Kurosawa stages the battles so handsomely—and he uses the frame in long shot almost like a Buster Keaton or Tati film. Conversely, the dialogue-laden (though always sharp, engaging and a fantastic narrative) chamber drama portion of the film is stylistically quiet.
- The continual self-interest in every character as an ongoing theme is nothing new to Kurosawa- he’s been doing it since Rashomon– dog-eat-dog nihilism

The continual self-interest in every character as an ongoing theme is nothing new to Kurosawa- he’s been doing it since Rashomon- dog-eat-dog nihilism
- The entire cast is superb but Nakadai’s achievement is among the best of 1985 as is Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede as the Machiavellian wife of Lord Hidetora’s eldest son. Nakadai’s performance is unsubtle—but it is fitting with the film and size of the character/ego.

The entire cast is superb but Nakadai’s achievement is among the best of 1985
- The battles sequences with no audio except the non-diegetic music score is sublime—color guards. It is a five minute montage of the slaughter as the castle is sieged at the 1 hour mark. And echoes of Mifune in Throne of Blood as the arrows and pour in around Nakadai.

The battles sequences with no audio except the non-diegetic music score is sublime—color guards. It is a five minute montage of the slaughter as the castle is sieged at the 1 hour mark
- Wood blocking/obstructing the frame like Rashomon

Wood blocking/obstructing the frame like Rashomon

…. there’s one in Kagemusha as well- often called Ran’s “dress rehearsal”
- long shot battle sequences with the extras is also a bit of a statement on the sheep-like or “crushed like ants” (in the text) while cursing the gods. It’s not as apparent a criticism as say Chaplin with the sheep in the factor cutaway in Modern Times but still

long shot battle sequences with the extras is also a bit of a statement on the sheep-like or “crushed like ants” (in the text) while cursing the gods.
- The film has gravitas like The Godfather –loyalties, lineage, families with vendettas– it is no surprise that Coppola and Lucas were admirers of Kurosawa
- The shot of Nakadai’s character leaving the burning castle and descending the steps at the 72 minute mark– with the red and yellow color guards on both sides is a jaw-dropper—a set-piece that has rarely been topped- reminded me of the sequence with the oil rig in PTA’s There Will Be Blood.
- “it’s a mad world. Only the mad are sane”— Meditation on the downfall of pride as well
- End is a fitting long shot

End is a fitting long shot
- Camby in the Times (who I don’t go to often) speaks of Birth of a Nation, Napoleon and Ivan the Terrible– I’ve yet to see Gance’s film but I like the comparison to Eisenstein’s work especially – this is a true epic, 1000 + extras, detailed armor, the thundering noise of horses
- Masterpiece- clearly Kurosawa still capable of one of his better films at the age of 75—and a few decades removed from his very best work in the 1950’s and early 1960’s
The castle attack in Ran is one hell of a scene. I might vote for it as the best battle scene in cinema, although many others are quite close.
Ebert called the Ride of the Valkyries helicopter attack in Apocalypse Now the best battle on film and that’s a strong candidate. Lawrence of Arabia’s Aqaba raid, Saving Private Ryan’s opening D-Day invasion, and Paths of Glory’s No Man’s Land ambush come to mind for war movies. Seven Samurai’s final standout, The Empire Strikes Back’s AT-AT attack, and, yes, many scenes from Marvel movies stand out among non-war action movies.
There are obviously hundreds more. What are some big ones I’m missing?
@Graham– Great list — thanks for sharing. How about Helm’ss Deep battle in Two Towers? The Opening of The Revenant? The final battle in 1917? Welles Chimes at Midnight? The opening of Cold MOuntain? Alexander Nevsky — Battle On The Ice from Eisenstein. There are more I’m sure- probably an obvious few I’m missing.
Since you now consider Bad Sleep Well,Ikiru,High and Low,Rashomon and Seven Samurai masterpieces I feel like Ran should be upgraded to a masterpiece as well.There is no way Ran is kurosawa’s 6th best.
I agree, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I believe it is the final pending review from Drake’s Kurosawa study since I believe he was unable to track down The Quiet Duel or Rhapsody in August.
@Anderson and @Matt Harris— yep- I’m still waiting for the bluray of Ran– but I think it should come available soon. At some point I’m sure The Quiet Duel and Rhapsody in August will come available, too. I did the same thing earlier in the year with Visconti and at the time of my study Ossessione and Rocco and His Brothers weren’t available. They came available recently and I prioritized them. Not ideal to do them out of order like that but it is what it is. Still way better/easier than it was 10-20 years ago.
I did take a few minutes this past weekend and jot down my new top 10 for Kurosawa and slotted Ran 6th but there is no shame in that with how highly I think of his top 5.
What top 5 films are you referring to? Which film took the top spot?
@Azman – Bad Sleep Well, Ikiru, High and Low, Rashomon and Seven Samurai
Are you going to move Kurosawa to position 1?
@Aldo- haha i don’t know. I won’t be updating my top directors list for some time
@Drake, I assume that list is not ranked in order unless it’s in reverse order or you consider bad sleep well as Kurosawas best.
I’ll be really excited to see Kurosawas updated films ranking.
The reviews for all the Kurosawa movies were excellent.
@Azman– yeah- it isn’t in order- I just copied and pasted from Anderson’s comment collecting the five films that I’ve ranked as a masterpiece so far
I’m quite happy you were able to re-review this one. I consider an elephantine masterpiece, and one of the very best epic films. Kurosawa, often known for saying his best movie was going to be his next one, changed pace after the release and finally decided that Ran was his magnum opus. The costumes, set design, and color create great cinematography. The controlled chaos of the battle sequences fuel an emotionally hard-hitting narrative. As always with the Japanese master, the performances are overdone, but skillfully so. Nakadai and Harada may give the best male and female performances of the year, respectively. Where do you think this will fall on Kurosawa’s top ten?
@Graham– yes! after much delay I finally was able to get my hands on Ran on bluray again. So in 2019 here http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/04/26/the-12th-best-director-of-all-time-akira-kurosawa/ before the study, I had Ran as Kurosawa’s third best… through no fault of Ran– it will be falling down a few spots when I update the page. I see it as more of his 4-7th best– which again is no insult. I’ll give it a minute and let myself process this a little of course
Another question: with High and Low as well as Ran now officially reclaimed by you as certain masterpieces, and with Nakadai superb in both, do you think he has a case as a top 100 actor?
Also, how high do you think Asakazu Nakai should rank on a list of the best cinematographers? Ran was co-shot by a few people, but Nakai is the DP for Ikiru, Seven Samurai, High and Low, much of Ran, and many other Kurosawa films (Rashomon and Yojimbo, among others, were done by Kazuo Miyagawa, another great).
@Graham– thanks again for the comment. Sure- I do think Nakadai has a case. And great point about Nakai — I don’t have list of the best cinematographers (except for in my head) but that resume would put him right up there.
Good review, this is much more detailed, hopefully after this Kurosawa will occupy position 1.
Is there any other director with such a good movie after being over 70 years old? i certainly don’t think i can get to 5. Scorsese with the Irishman and Dreyer has to be the best, 75 years old when he make Gertrud.
Certainly Lumet was still making good movies at that age, even though they aren’t close at any level of quality. This shows how rare it is to find directors making such great movies at that age.
@Aldo- certainly named a few year that were still doing really good work at a late age. Haneke got a late start and White Ribbon he’s almost 70 I think. Kubrick 70 or so for Eyes Wide Shut. Eastwood comes to mind– he’s not in the class of Kurosawa or Kubrick or anything but he was dominant in the 2000’s while in his 70’s. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few
john ford 68 years old with liberty valance on the other hand @Aldo gertrud is a good example but the irishman of scorsese doesn’t play in the same league as gertrud or ran.robert bresson 82 years old with l’argent
@beaucamp– good one– Malick 68 for Tree of Life, too
@beaucamp. Thanks. Didn’t you like the Irishman?
Obviously it’s not in the same league because there are few movies at Gertrud’s level.
I have not seen l’argent, hoping to do it soon.
yes i like the irishman i think it’s a very good film but not more.although they are not all exactly at the same level gretrud ran liberty valance eyes wide shut or tree of life are all exceptionnal films
@aldo in regards to l’argent although it is not my favorite of bresson it’s a superb film but a very very dark and pessimistic movie in the line of mouchette or au hasard balthazar if not more
Ran is a superb film. One of the best late masterpieces by a director in history. Am glad that you’re finally coming around to Kurosawa. Hopefully will be top 5 directors on the next updated list haha.
Also was wondering if you’ve had a chance to see Tenet yet since it’s out on Bluray now? And if so will there be a review soon? I was lucky enough to see it back in cinemas 6 months ago, took me a second watch to understand it and appreciate it a lot more. HR/MS border for me, some great spectacle and a truly original story. Hard to comprehend how they filmed half of it.
@Joel– “finally coming around on Kurosawa?”- haha.
@Joel- and yes- my notes on Tenet are coming soon. I caught it last night
I recently noticed that one shot from Seven Samurai (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/86/3b/10863be8ed52a3a76871eee612dc572a.png) looks strikingly similar to the forth shot you include on this page besides the slideshow at the top (https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/54faf78ce4b04da0abdfbde8/1498135032216-XXTYPX96QE9VH0LUT9BS/akira-kurosawa-ran-coeval-magazine-1.jpg?content-type=image%2Fjpeg). The arrangement of heads in the top left and the bottom clearly, I think, mirrors the Ran shot enough that it must be intentional. Are there other cases of a filmmaker who copied a mise-en-scene arrangement like this? I’m not asking about those who have an image that is only thematically connected to another (Ryu alone in the finales of Early Summer and Tokyo Story) or looks distantly similar to others because of an auteur’s distinct style (lots of symmetrical shots in Wes’ films, extreme close-ups for Leone); I’m specifically wondering about an exact staging of figures that is repeated. I am having trouble finding other examples.
@Graham — interesting. I mean most auteurs (especially on this level) repeat themselves like this, right? That’s part of having a signature style. I absolutely love it. I search for screen images all the time and it is difficult to know for sure which Ozu film shots are from (especially his pillow shot laundry cutaways and empty interiors). And certainly these two images aren’t exact duplicates
@Graham- Bergman has the same shot over and over again in his filmography- two faces blocking each other for dialogue — you could find this for almost every great auteur
https://www.zubiaurcarreno.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Oposicion-hermanas_web.jpg
http://www.railoftomorrow.com/2012/02/faces.html
That’s a terrific example. That one had not come into my mind. The observation that is difficult to tell from which film a pillow shot comes is an intriguing one. Such an observation might seem like a bad thing for many filmmakers, but it serves as praise for Ozu’s films and style. Of course, there are many auteurs who repeat camera movements, cinematic techniques, thematic ideals, and editing norms, but for now the Kurosawa, Ozu, and Bergman shots are the only solid examples I have of a repeated mise-en-scene arrangement.
I suppose I’ll add more examples here whenever they come to mind. There is Nolan’s recurring shot of a character viewed from behind (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/26kqUlgOs0Q/maxresdefault.jpg, https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/2019/03/a5d8703d95495943-600×338.jpg, https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/dunkirk.jpg) that Drake points out on the Nolan page. I believe Antonioni has many shots where a wall blocks much of the frame but leaves room for a section at the edge where a person can be seen (https://offscreen.com/images/articles/_resized/14_4_totaro_big.jpg, https://mattystanfield.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/la-notte-1961-00hr32min27sec1.jpg?w=922, https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zGreRPcsAtg/TEQ8CmepSVI/AAAAAAAABws/guJeG2JPh_0/s1600/L%27Avventura12.jpg).
@Graham– yeah- check out the Michael Mann page (shot out the window), Tarantino (trunk shot), Imamura has an overhead shot on his page in several films, douglas sirk has one with flowers in the foreground, ramsay has several, greenaway … most of the 250 directors below have almost the exact same shot in multiple films
http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/08/17/the-250-best-directors-of-all-time/
This shows just how much more knowledgeable a cinephile you are than I (20x the years of experience, so I’m absolutely fine with that). I have only seen one movie each from Mann, Tarantino, and Greenaway, and none from the others. I’ll keep an eye open for each of these shots that you mention. Over time, more trends will become clear as I explore more auteurs. I am aware that most great directors use repeating shots, but most that spring to my mind are either not directly related to mise-en-scene and composition (Spike Lee double dolly; Scorsese or Peckinpah slow motion; Murnau, Tarkovsky, or Ophuls floating tracking shots) or not quite specific enough (Welles low angles, Malick nature shots, Kieslowski primary colors, Fincher murky darkness).
I recently realized that Tarkovsky captured a shot of a dog by water in Stalker (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/fb-images/stalker-1979-002-00m-ln4-dog-running-through-water-16×9.jpg) as well as a shot of a horse near water in Andrei Rublev (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/75/3d/1b/753d1beba928ded7a9698aab2c4b2562.jpg). Perhaps this is not a coincidence?
Watching Ran in 4K was an absolute treat, it’s sumptuous visuals and use of bright, bold colors just blows you away. He essentially painted the entire film over a 10 year period (at times nearly blind). Much of the film looks like a painting, especially the opening 15 minutes. What really jumped out at me with the most recent viewing was the sheer brutality which may sound strange as I was well aware that many people are killed. But the sheer madness (it’s title does translate to chaos) and nihilism which is pure Kurosawa is dialed up to an 11 and I love it. I feel like Kurosawa expected it to be his final film. It works on every level, not just as a visual tour de force and amazing war film but also as a gut wrenching drama. The scenes where Ichimonji Hidetora must confront his past cruelties are absolutely devastating. An all timer.
I can’t say I agree with the part where you mention thinking Kurosawa believed this would be his final film… since he clearly didn’t, and I don’t mean that because he made more films after this, but in a letter he wrote to Ingmar Bergman in 1988 he tells Bergman that he believes his greatest work as an artist is just about to begin. Of course, it didn’t, but it shows that he clearly had no plan of stopping.
I also remember watching his speech when he received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Oscars in 1990, where he claimed that, after all these years, he still did not fully understand the art of cinema and would continue making movies until he could completely grasp its essence.
However, James is correct that Kurosawa directed Ran such that it seems like he thought it might be his last hurrah, with go-for-broke grandeur and cosmically large scope.
@Zane
@Graham – “Kurosawa directed Ran such that it seems like he thought it might be his last hurrah, with go-for-broke grandeur and cosmically large scope.”
Yes, this is what I meant, well said, he directed it like someone going all in. Zane, you are correct about Kurosawa’s desire to keep making films but given how much he struggled to get financing for his films post the mid 60s it seems reasonable to believe that Kurosawa felt like it was his last chance for a final Masterpiece. I mean the sheer ambition of the film speaks for itself, Kurosawa spent nearly 10 years on it, painting the entire film.
What are the films with the greatest use of the long shot?
I imagine Lawrence of Arabia would have to be # 1?
What are some others?
@James Trapp- yeah these two come to mind— Intolerance’s crane shot sticks in my mind…. but Barry Lyndon with those long shot zooms…. maybe the work of Tati
I assume you are referring to what I prefer to call wide shots, because the term “long shot” may create confusion with “long take” (long duration) or “telephoto shot” (long lens). Lawrence of Arabia probably runs at the front of the pack, as you mentioned, and Drake’s suggestions are great as well. I would also add:
Gone With the Wind
Many shots of John Ford
Some of Ozu’s movies
Seven Samurai and some of Kurosawa’s other movies
North by Northwest
La Dolce Vita
Last Year at Marienbad
The Trial
The Leopard
Antonioni’s movies
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Conformist
Days of Heaven
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
Stalker
Nostalghia
Brazil
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Raise the Red Lantern
Unforgiven
Fargo
Saving Private Ryan
@Graham- Yes, a long take is much different. What @James Trapp said and means is indeed called a long shot– Definition: Long Shot. LONG SHOT: In film, a view of a scene that is shot from a considerable distance
What would be your ranking of the five or ten best Shakespeare screen adaptations?
@Graham- I don’t know if I can do all five to ten off the top of my head but you have to start with Welles and Kursoawa right? The Bad Sleep Well? Ran, Othello and Chimes at Midnight have to be 4 of the top 6 or 7 or so.