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From: jon@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Jonathan Gingerich)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Ran
Message-ID: <2562@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jan-86 21:56:12 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.2562
Posted: Wed Jan  8 21:56:12 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 18:47:59 EST
Reply-To: jon@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Jonathan Gingerich)
Distribution: na
Organization: System Development Corporation R&D, Santa Monica
Lines: 22

a
I saw "Ran" the other night with several friends.  I was somewhat wary of the
movie, since the last Kurosawa I saw was "Kagemusha", and I felt it suceeded
more on the directors reputation than on the content.  I did enjoy "Ran"
however; it is truely epic and a masterpiece of visualization.  As for the
content, I'm not convinced of its profundity.  It is loosely based on "King
Lear" and although it has been a long time since I read that play, I recall
it as more of a vehicle for a actor to rant and rave across the stage  than 
as a particularly compelling plot, but then I'm not a parent!  The screenplay
divirges in two notable ways.  The "Great Lord" richly deserves his fate as
recounted in encounters with his victims,  one of whom is now his son's wife
and is bent on vengence for her family.  Indeed, the actress's strong 
portrayal and the structuring of the film around her story would suggest the
film is really about her rather than the lord, except that so much screen time
is devoted to him.  "Ran" means chaos and the film is unremittingly dark.
In fact, it reminds me of nothing so much as "Night of the Living Dead",
an association undoubtably prompted by one of the battle scenes.  I can not
see what the director is saying beyond "War is hell".  If the subject is
at all appealing you should see it, otherwise ...

Can anyone who has seen it tell us anything about the Fox in Chinese or
Japanese folklore?