Film of the Week: Ran (1985)

Ran was released in Japan in 1985. It was among the first color films of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Many critics praise Ran for the vibrancy of its colors. Ran is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear to medieval Japan. Adapting western stories to an eastern world is a trademark of Kurosawa's. He adapted Macbeth to feudal Japan in Throne of Blood, and adapted Hamlet to the corrupt postwar business world of Japan in The Bad Sleep Well. Kurosawa remains one of the most important filmmakers in the history of Japan, and the world.