This list of the best movies of the 1980s says Ran is the Akira Kurosawa's greatest film and the second best of that decade.
http://cynicritics.com/2013/03/14/favorite-80s-movies/
Not made during the 80's but IMHO Seven Samurai was his best ...
shareIve seen quite a handful of Kurosawa films. RAN is definitely a great film and a great spectacle of film making in 1985 but I believe in no way that this is his best film let alone better than Seven Samurai.
I just watched RAN for the first time today. I did enjoy it immensely but there was several things about the film that bothered me. A lot of the camera shots seemed like they were placed strangely? I dont really know how else to word that. Since Kurosawa was practically blind when they filmed I imagine he didnt have a lot to do with the photography.
Some of the editing seemed really off and the pacing of the film was extremely weird compared to his other films. In a way it reminded me a lot of Alejandro Jodorowsky's films particularly El Topo (70') because this film was very surreal and like I said before with the editing and pacing which was obviously intentional.
I rate the movie about a 7 because thats really how I feel about it but I also want to give it a generous 8 because it was extremely well made and it had some of the best big battle sequences on film since Seven Samurai.
Definitely not my favorite Kurosawa film but definitely a masterpiece in its own way.
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.
Yeah, I think that's fair. It doesn't have a lot of obvious personal connections between the film maker and audience, but Roger Ebert tried to point out that Hidetora was, in his opinion, a reflection of Kurosawa as he was coming to grips with his legacy as a film maker. Someone who's seen it all, done it all, and is wondering what else he can do.
I'm not sure I buy Ebert's explanation, but I do think that Kurosawa may have missed an opportunity to personalize this film a bit more so that we as the audience might sympathize more with the old lord.
But he's essentially King Lear; an SOB who betrayed and killed off rival lords, then letting himself be manipulated by his off-spring. You can't really sympathize too much with that, so I think people are a little more emotionally distant from it.
Personally of what I have seen I'd put Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Rashomon and High and Low above it. Its on par with Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Haven't seen Ikiru yet (waiting for the upcoming Criterion release). Liked it more than Kagemusha though.
shareI wouldn't say it's his best, but it is great. Above "Ran" I would put "Seven Samurai", "No Regrets For Our Youth" (which btw, I'm sad that in the lists of Kurosawa's best movies which people posted on this thread, that one isn't even mentioned), "Stray Dog", "High and Low" and "Kagemusha".
The only Kurosawa movie I didn't really love was Dodeskaden.
I think people who see Ran as the greatest Kurosawa film don't like watching B&W.
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