Akira Kurosawa’s 27th movie, his fourth in colour (and what colour!), is his final masterpiece – a startling transposition of Shakespeare’s King Lear to 16th century Japan. Trading a king and his daughters for a lord and his sons, Ran (literally ‘Chaos’) sees Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) divide his land between three offspring (Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu) on his 70th birthday. His first error is to cede responsibility while expecting to retain power. His second is to mistake the misgivings of his youngest son, a loyal ally, for treason. Hidetora banishes him, clearing the way for the older siblings to plunge Japan into civil war.
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