Ran

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ran!

Original image located here. Accessed 17th June 2022

Anyone heard of this? This was a Japanese movie from 1985, directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa.
Akira Kurosawa. Any film geek worth their salt knows the name. The man who announced Japanese cinema to the rest of the world. The man who gave us the Seven Samurai and inspired a whole trope in it's wake. The man known for his samurai epics, humanistic approach and his Shakespeare adaptations.
And Ran is, apparently, one of his best. It's one of his aforementioned Shakespeare adpatations, in this case, King Lear.

In a word: Extraordinary. I thought I was familiar with Kurosawa, having seen Rashomon and Seven Samurai, but this is something else entirely. So much to admire I don't know where to begin: I like the use of landscapes, I like the acting, I how many of the battle scenes take place in silence. I like how is a different take on tried and tested material (Shakespeare amirite?). I like the battle choreography and the beauty present.
At first i didn't what to make of this movie but eventually, it did reveal itself as nothing less than a triumph
Some say that this movie was the end result of a lifetime in movie making. Kurosawa was 75 when he made this and it seems that what he learnt over the years is there on the screen.
I believe it.

Rashomon

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Rashomon!

Original image located here. Accessed 11th June 2021

I walk into my local library without any intention to borrow anything and yet i walk out with a DVD of this movie. How strange it is that I partake in an antiqued act that should have died with Blockbuster.
But how could i refuse? This is one of the all time classics - one that announced Japanese cinema to the world and gave us the trope of the same situation retold by multiple unreliable narrators.

And it would appear that seventy one years has not tarnished this film at all. It is gripping, well-directed and beautifully shot. And it is shining example of what one can do with a small cast and an even smaller number of locations (one can imagine many a independent/budding filmmaker watching this and taking notes). It may be bleak when compared to Akira Kurosawa's other masterwork - The Seven Samurai - but it still has his humanist approach and his eye for sword battles