Current Events > saw 'Ran' (Kurosawa) last night on Prime. great flick, leaves in four days

(+) Yeah! (+)

if you have Prime and haven't seen 'Ran' but like older movies or Kurosawa, definitely check it out. it leaves Prime in 4d.

fantastic use of color. overall great production.

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Kurosawa: black & white films into the 70s
also Kurosawa: ALL THE COLORS!!!

@zithers

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Questionmarktarius posted...

Kurosawa: black & white films into the 70s
also Kurosawa: ALL THE COLORS!!!

yeah he really went all in with the colors in this one, but it worked really well IMO. he also really went hard on the blood splatters

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DuranOfForcena posted...

i've seen Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Rahsomon, which was my favorite. i should look this one up too, i suppose.

those are all wonderful movies. Rashomon is really cool. i appreciated it more after learning that it was the (basically?) first movie to do that whole "the story changes based on perspective" thing.

'Ran' is a war epic loosely based on King Lear. it's a bit long at 2h30m but well worth it.

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It was great.

Kagemusha is another great later Kurosawa for those who may not have seen it.

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Kagemusha is one I have not seen yet.

I was fortunate enough to see Seven Samurai in the theater. That was awesome.

The 4K Blu-ray is coming out soon. I got my copy pre-ordered, but its from DiabolikDVD so it doesn't actually ship out in July because the other stuff I pre-ordered it with comes out in September.

I never bothered upgrading from the old DVD because the Blu-ray sounded like a mediocre job, so I'm excited to see this.

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Pure masterpiece. I've seen all of the Kurosawa films...went deep around 20 years ago. Bought all the Criterion releases and filled holes when needed until I had nearly all of them. IIRC, some of his earliest work was impossible to find back when I was buying. My favorite is probably The Lower Depths.

Always makes me happy to see someone experience Kurosawa for the first time, whether it be in general or a particular film. My favorite piece of memorabilia is a poster I found for Rashamon:



Toshiro Mifune was so cool. One of the greatest.

I have a soft spot for Ikiru as well. Not an action or samurai film but rather a film about a dying low-level bureaucrat who see's that his life was wasted pushing pencils and decides to build a public park as his last endeavor. Stars Takashi Shimura who was the 2nd main actor behind Mifune that Kurosawa would cast. Love this movie.



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Serious Cat posted...

Kagemusha is another great later Kurosawa for those who may not have seen it.

want to see this one too, thanks for the rec

NecroFoul99 posted...

My favorite is probably The Lower Depths.

will check that one out too, thanks.

NecroFoul99 posted...

Always makes me happy to see someone experience Kurosawa for the first time, whether it be in general or a particular film.

i started appreciating old movies within the last 5 years and after hearing so much about him i started with "Seven Samurai". i was hesitant due to the length, but it went by so fast. i then saw Rashomon and Yojimbo and loved both. also seen "Hidden Fortress" and now "Ran".


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Giant_Aspirin posted...

will check that one out too, thanks

You cant go wrong no matter what you choose, honestly. Dreams is an interesting film comprised of vignettes and you can see Scorsese play Van Gogh. His last film, Madadayo, is something worthwhile to see, especially how it ties into his life. Its sorta bittersweet. Throne of Blood and Sanjuro for more Toshiro Mifune chewing up every scene. He was a master.

I can go on and on. Its been a long time since Ive watched any of the Kurosawa films I purchased. This got me thinking its time for a binge. Kurosawa and Kubrick are my two favorite of our lost masters.

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NecroFoul99 posted...

I have a soft spot for Ikiru as well. Not an action or samurai film but rather a film about a dying low-level bureaucrat who see's that his life was wasted pushing pencils and decides to build a public park as his last endeavor. Stars Takashi Shimura who was the 2nd main actor behind Mifune that Kurosawa would cast. Love this movie.

It's great that Takashi Shimura was able to play a dying old man... and then went on to play the leader of a group of samurai. That's flexibility.

(He was also in Godzilla.)

If you like Kurosawa, I would recommend checking out his best contemporary, Kon Ichikawa. His documentary on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, apart from being timely, is such an astounding, massive and appealing achievement that it might as well be a multimillion dollar blockbuster rather than a sports documentary (it was, iirc, the highest grossing film in Japanese history at the time). An Actor's Revenge is also amazing, as is Fires on the Plain, The Burmese Harp, and Alone Across the Pacific.

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