[March 23 1910, legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was born. To celebrate the centennial of his life, his prolific contributions to the world of cinema, and immense impact on the hearts and minds of those quietly mourning his absence, staffers at Row Three are (rather enthusiastically) taking this opportunity to share their own experiences of the Kurosawa catalogue]
After an extraordinarily productive first 25 years of filmmaking (at a clip of about one film a year), Akira Kurosawa’s next quarter century (1965-90) saw only 6 of his films get made. Battling with the rise of television, declining interest in his style of filmmaking and growing health problems, Kurosawa found it difficult to get a film produced. After being let go from the directorial duties of the Japanese portion of Tora, Tora, Tora, Kurosawa attempted to go independent with 3 other cohorts. The venture, however, was unsuccessful when his first film under its banner (1970′s Dodes’kaden) helped bankrupt the company. A suicide attempt followed and he had continuing funding woes after recovering – his next film was the Russian made Dersu Uzala and following films required help from outside Japan (most famously from U.S. directors such as Francis Foird Coppola, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese). More hard luck was still to come for the now ageing director, but after a “trial run” with 1980′s Kagemusha, he completed his crowning achievement in 1985: the gorgeous epic Ran.
Partially based on King Lear, the story was something Kurosawa had been ruminating upon for at least a decade and manages to dovetail many varied ideas into it (e.g. the Japanese Noh theatrical makeup and acting style for his main character) while also changing some of the basic themes from Shakespeare’s play. Both are tragedies, but Kurosawa hits harder at the human lust for power and our desire for retribution at any cost. The film opens with a wild boar hunt being led by Lord Hidetaro Ichimonji and his three sons. They relax afterwards on the grounds of their vast kingdom and Hidetaro, getting on in years and tired from the pursuit, drifts off to sleep and has a dream. It’s a nightmarish scenario about being completely alone in the world and it prompts him to step down as ruler and hand over the title to his eldest son Taro. Of course, this is met with howls of protest (even from Taro), but it’s only the youngest son Saburo who confronts the old man with a reality check:
“You spilled an ocean of blood. You showed no mercy, no pity. We too are children of this age… weaned on strife and chaos. We are your sons, yet you count on our fidelity. In my eyes, that makes you a fool. A senile old fool!”
For his honesty, Saburo is banished. So begins the unraveling of the kingdom.
