Classic Cinema: Ran

This screening took place on Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 3:00 pmYukon Theatre

In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Recommended for ages 14+ for violence and gore, frightening and intense scenes and alcohol.

Kurosawa may not be Shakespeare, but with images like these, he gets at something about the horror -- and hopelessness -- of being a man that is peculiarly his own. - Washington Post