"Ran" completed in 1985 is another masterpiece of a large-scale costume film completed by Akira Kurosawa at the age of 75. This film is based on "King Lear", one of Shakespeare's four tragedies. He co-wrote the screenplay with his old collaborators Xiaokuni Hero and Masato Ide. In addition to acting as the director, he also edited on his own. The so-called "King Lear" refers to this work, which is the same as the "Idiot", "Spider Web Castle", and "Under the Bottom" that he filmed before. The background, location, characters, customs, local customs, etc. of the story are all moved to Japan and completely "Japanese". The first draft of "Chaos" was released on March 19, 1976, indicating that the film had been brewing at least 10 years ago.
Kurosawa is diligently trying to shoot this masterpiece. As far as his dominant ideas are concerned, first of all, he sincerely hates the human disaster caused by the desire for power. The second is to try to explain his belief that the retribution of good and evil go hand in hand. This kind of thinking has been explained to different degrees in many of his previous works, but none of them is as vivid and vivid as this work.
The background of the time described in the film is the Sengoku period of Japan. The protagonist Yiwen Xiuhu is an overlord, he conquered the city, swallowed the weak, and the methods are extremely cruel. When the kingdom of people is destroyed, the family of the king of the small country must be cut to extinction, leaving a crippled offspring to the other side, that is, Guangkaishanmen. The film depicts such a flesh and blood paranoid old overlord. After he smashed the weak and weak princes, he thought that the overall situation was settled and that he would be successful, that the seeds of hatred that he sown would never germinate, and his greed and cruel deeds would not be retributed. Fancy handing over power to the three sons and enjoying the blessings of his old age. He never thought that all kinds of brutal and extremely treachery actions had already set an example for his eldest son and second son, and he had already created a son who was the father of the father. His position made his eldest son and second son covetous. Therefore, when he expressed the handing over of power to his three sons, his clear-headed and kind-hearted third son resolutely opposed, saying clearly: "You don't know how many people you have killed. You are in a ruthless world. People who have come to life... Because we are your son, you fantasize about living your old age with this kind of father-son love. I can only think that you are crazy..." The third son pointedly pointed out Xiuhu’s fantasy because of him. It has already been seen that his father is very cruel and cruel, and his elder brother and second brother have already followed their father. The world created by their family is a world that bullies the weak and commits unrighteousness and uses killing as the only means. Even his subordinate Hirayama said: "This is the world! People, the main pursuit is not happiness but sorrow; the main thing is peace but pain!" The cruel curse and lament on the world like this can be seen everywhere in the film. According to Kurosawa Akira, this kind of world gods and Buddhas must be frowned upon. In the ending scene, there is a set of pictures: the hanging scroll of the Buddha statue in Tsurumaru’s hand fell from the high stone wall of the command building, expanded halfway and fell on the grass under the dry moat, and immediately turned into There are innumerable Buddha statues scattered everywhere. These Buddha statues are shining with golden light in the sunset and sunset. Amitabha, deformed by grief, looks up at the stone wall blankly.
This film is more majestic and magnificent than the "Shadow Warrior" scene. The novelty of the technique is shown in:
First, the film uses a large number of non-live sound, from 51 to 87 scenes, as many as 36 consecutive non-live sound. The scene of blood and blood flying across the cruel killings made the viewer thrilled. In the film, static pictures and dynamic pictures alternate frequently, and close-up shots of human faces are rarely used. They are also unique. The author's purpose is not to show the changes in the characters' feelings, but to focus on the atmosphere of the entire film.
Second, the combination of reality and absurdity, this is the only one in Kurosawa's works so far. In this work, Kuang Ami is Xiuhu's attendant and jester. In terms of age, teenagers can only belong to Xiuhu's grandchildren; in terms of position, he is a child attendant, who is extremely humble. But this person is wild and unruly, funny and little courteous, but he and Xiuhu get along very well, he is not formal, his witty remarks are well-written, and he is rich in philosophy. It is a joke, but to Xiuhu it is implied advice and inspiration, sometimes even mockery. For example, he and Xiuhu were chased by their sons and had nowhere to escape, so they had to hide in the ruins of the old city. Xiuhu stopped and looked around. At this time, the dialogue between the two was like this:
Xiuhu: "Lost!"
Mad Ami: "People are always lost!"
Xiuhu: "I've walked this road before!"
Mad Ami: "People always go the old way!"
Obviously, Akira Kurosawa did not design this character image just to make him gag, but to make him stand up and speak for the author at a critical moment in order to satirize the world. This character has not left Xiuhu from beginning to end, and Xiuhu live and die together, almost equal to another protagonist. Letting such a character appear on the stage has never been seen in Kurosawa's works in the past.
Third, good use of natural scenery and natural weather has always been Kurosawa's specialty. This work is particularly prominent and the effect is extraordinary. Clouds of different shapes and shades, bright and dark suns, vast twilights, gusts of wind, showers, vast but lifeless and desolate grasslands, and so on, appear from time to time, which seem to be enough to foreshadow good and bad luck. There are as many as 13 empty scenes with the theme of plateaus, grasslands, mountain tops, vast plains, summer wilderness, river beaches, stormy wilderness, canyons, and treacherous mountains. There are as many as 13; There are 7 empty scenes with the theme of thick clouds, billowing dark clouds, sky, vast high sky, etc. These natural sceneries and weather do not seem to be natural sceneries in this film, but for the living actors who are driven by Akira Kurosawa to participate in the creation of the film. The blending of scenery and people makes the whole film a powerful nature, which is looking down on the world and condemning this stupid fratricide.
The destruction of Xiuhu's family does not make people feel sad and regretful. On the contrary, what makes the human body taste is that good and evil will be repaid. Kurosawa has indeed achieved the goal of letting the audience join him, overlooking this fratricidal human tragedy from a high distance from the sky.
View more about Ran reviews
