Ran

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. Akira Kurosawa redefines what an epic film is, with astonishing storytelling, entirely believable characters and real life battle scenes without the use of special effects/CGI. He retells the story of King Lear in his own way and no one would recognize that it was actually an adaptation beforehand. But just like Shakespeare, there is humour, irony, death and not a happy ending. The acting is pretty much excellent and certainly believable. Everyone who played a part in the production of this film deserves some kind of recognition.

Anjana Radhakrishnan