Ran Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Ran Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 24, 2010

Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Studio Canal. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc are: "AK", a French documentary film by director Chris Marker; "Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate", a French documentary exploring the Japanese director's rich legacy; "The Samurai", a fascinating documentary on Samurai art, Samurai rituals, and the history of Samurai culture; "Akira Kurosawa by Catherine Cadou", trailer and more. With optional English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish subtitles. Region A/B "locked".

Betrayed

The great Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai, Kagemusha) announces that he has decided to step down and let his three sons -- Taro (Akira TeraoDreams), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu, Farewell to the Land and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu, Lake of Illusions) -- take over his land. Taro, the eldest one, would inherit Lord Hidetora's biggest castle and become the leader of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo would support him. In return, Lord Hidetora asks that his sons allow him to spend the rest of his days with them.

Saburo openly criticizes his father’s decision and urges him to reconsider it. He believes it is unfair and that it will eventually force his brothers to confront each other. Angered by Saburo’s criticism, Lord Hidetora banishes his youngest son and vows never to see him again. Taro and Jiro reluctantly accept his decision.

In the days ahead, Lord Hidetora arrives at Taro's castle hoping to forget about his altercation with Saburo, but is soon faced with a new dilemma -- after he foolishly kills one of Taro's guards, he is asked to renounce his title. Enraged, Lord Hidetora heads to Jiro's castle, where Jiro and his most trusted man, Kurogane (Hisashi Igawa, Rhapsody in August), are plotting to kill Taro and take over the Ichimonji clan. When Lord Hidetora learns about Jiro's plan, he loses his mind.

Ran is not a perfect film, though it is often regarded as such. It is beautifully made and incredibly well acted, but also notably episodic, resembling a giant panorama of moving pictures united by a common theme. It is a uniquely personal film, too -- Kurosawa shot it at the age of 75, following years of preparatory work -- one that many film scholars believe reflects on a variety of issues the director struggled with in his life.

The bulk of the material in Ran is based on William Shakespeare's King Lear. However, a significant portion of it also incorporates elements of traditional Japanese samurai stories. Unsurprisingly, various parts of Ran look like extracts from an elaborate theater play conceived to impress in a very different way.

In one of the supplemental features offered on this release, Vittorio Dalleore, trainee assistant on Ran and Kurosawa's assistant on Dreams, recalls how incredibly demanding and specific the director was during the production process. Several of the massive battles, for example, were shot at locations hundreds of kilometers apart from each other. (Kurosawa was one of the first directors to use multiple cameras at once while filming elaborate mass sequences).

An integral component of Ran is Toru Takemitsu's music score. In a way, the music is very much like a real character -- it has a pulse of its own and a constantly evolving identity. For example, some of the most memorable sequences in Ran would not have been as effective as they are without the soaring, incredibly moving flute solos.

In 1986, Ran won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Emi Wada) as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Picture.

Ran Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Akira Kurosawa's Ran arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. Please note that the disc's main menu can be set in one of the following languages: English (Australian territories), Danish, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, English (UK territories), and English (North America).

Ran is the only entry in the Studio Canal Collection that I am not overly enthusiastic about. From what I could tell, this VC-1 encoded high-definition transfer is very similar, if not identical, to the one Studio Canal used a while back when they released the film on HDDVD in France. And, unfortunately, this is not good news because this transfer is plagued by various serious issues.

The most damaging issue is the presence of mild to strong edge enhancement throughout the entire film. Indeed, there are key sequences where detail and clarity suffer greatly because of it. The film's color scheme is also problematic. I noticed many color pulsations and even bleeding. Furthermore, many of the darker sequences reveal a good dose of digital noise that will undoubtedly annoy folks with larger screens and projectors. Film grain has also been tampered with. On the positive side, the transfer is fairly clean. I did not see any large damage marks, scratches, or stains. To sum it all up, given that Studio Canal control the rights for Ran in a number of key territories, it is quite disappointing to see that this would likely be the only transfer in circulation that different distributors -- Optimum Home Entertainment, Kinowelt, and possibly even LionsGate -- would be able to access. (Note: This Blu-ray disc has been coded for Regions A and B. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A, Region-B, or Region-Free player in order to be able to access its content).

Ran Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The following audio tracks are included on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnis,h and Swedish subtitles for the main feature.

I opted for the Japanese DTRS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track and was fairly pleased with it. The dialog is crisp, clear, and very easy to follow, and there are no balance issues that I detected with Toru Takemitsu's music score. The flute solos, in particular, sound a lot more convincing on this Blu-ray disc than they do on my French R2 DVD.

The Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers an improved dynamic amplitude -- and many of the massive battles benefit greatly from it -- but I am not particularly fond of it. I felt that during a few of the quieter sequences, the sound was spread out quite unevenly. Still, the dialog is just as clean, crisp, and easy to follow as it is on the Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track.

Ran Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are encoded in 480/60i. Therefore, they are perfectly playable on Region-A PS3s and SAs.

AK - a French documentary feature by director Chris Marker focusing on the production history of Ran. In French and Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (72 min, 480/60i).

Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate - a French documentary feature exploring the Japanese director's rich legacy. In French and Japanese, with imposed English subtitles.(42 min, 480/60i).

The Samurai - a fascinating documentary on Samurai art, Samurai rituals, and the history of Samurai culture. In English. (53 min, 480/60i).

Akira Kurosawa by Catherine Cadou - Japanese cinema expert and translator Catherine Cadou recalls her encounter with Akira Kurosawa at the premiere of Ran at the Cannes Film Festival. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (15 min, 480/60i).

Art of the Samurai - renowned French specialist on Japan's ancient warfare art Jean-Christophe Charbonnier talks about the weapons and costumes used in Ran, samurai art and rituals, etc. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (42 min, 480/60i).

Trailer - a French theatrical trailer for Akira Kurosawa's Ran. (2 min, 480/60i).

BD Live functionality -

Booklet - a 20-page illustrated booklet containing David Jenkins' essay "World Gone Wrong: An Introduction to Akira Kurosawa's Ran".

Ran Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I believe that there are a couple of things one must consider when deciding whether to acquire this Blu-ray release. First, it is unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, that Ran would be fully restored and rereleased on Blu-ray. Studio Canal control the rights for the film in a number of key territories, and I simply don't see it happening. Hopefully, I am proven wrong, but I have a feeling that this flawed transfer would be in circulation for a very, very long time. Second, unlike what some of my colleagues have claimed on other sites, I don't find the Criterion DVD release to be better than this Blu-ray disc. Finally, like the rest of the Studio Canal Collection discs, this one has some terrific supplemental features.