Ran
Every frame is so meticulously crafted. Not just every frame, every detail. Every bit of fog, dust and even the weather. It all feels so particular and deliberate. This films has one of the most unique visual identities I’ve ever seen. It’s great seeing Kurosawa finally work with colour. The colours in this film are beyond striking. The scale is incredible, there were like a hundred actors, probably 100 horses at least, the set pieces were massive and so well designed. There’s a big brutal blood soaked battle scene in this film where they cut out all audio but the music which features a shot where the main character walking down some stairs with a massive set piece engulfed in flames. And they really did that, they burned down the set for that shot. And I think that’s incredible. If this film came out today, it’d be 80% CGI.It’s another one of those films where Tatsuya Nakadai plays a man falling into madness and yet it’s still very distinct from the others (Sword of Doom, Harakiri etc). I really loved that final moment between his character and Saburo, where they’ve finally find each other and set aside their conflict to be able to move on as father and son, just for Saburo to be shot within the same 10 seconds. Tragically shocking. Whilst I did enjoy the story, there were certain story beats that I’m a little confused on, maybe I wasn’t paying attention to the subtitles properly, but I think the sheer scale and attention to detail is enough to warrant a 5 star rating.
i might quit movies it doesnt get better than this