Ran

Repertory

40th Anniversary / 4K Restoration
Akira Kurosawa’s sweeping, operatic reimagining of King Lear unfolds in Ran, a staggering tale of war, betrayal, and madness, marking its 40th anniversary with a breathtaking 4K restoration of one of cinema’s most visually and emotionally powerful epics.

Resting after a wild boar hunt, warlord Tatsuya Nakadai (star of Kobabyashi’s Hara Kiri and The Human Condition, Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, High and Low, and Kagemusha among others) decides to divide his domain among his three sons. And then…a giant battle between color-coded armies is fought solely to the great Toru Takemitsu’s plaintive music; an entire castle burns to the ground, as Nakadai’s glassy-eyed lord staggers down its steep stone steps; ice-cold, knife-wielding seducer Mieko Harada, giving the film’s second tour de force performance, stops post-coitus to squash a moth…