Chaos --- Kurosawa Akira's late color film, an adaptation of Shakespeare's original play.

Clifford 2022-04-22 07:01:24

"Ran" is a late work of Akira Kurosawa, adapted from Shakespeare's famous play "King Lear".

In the film, Akira Kurosawa made various breakthroughs and attempts in images, and he staged the scenes of the film. In "Chaos", this strong sense of stage gives his films a unique atmosphere.

Extremely exaggerated, yet believable in this uniquely exaggerated atmosphere. His usual long shots, as always, appear motionless as mountains, but are full of tension like taut strings.

And the large-area color technique with great visual impact he used in "Chaos" has been borrowed and learned by Chinese directors a lot.

The fifth-generation directors, especially Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, and especially Zhang Yimou, have a very serious Kurosawa complex. Both "Hero" and "Golden Armor" have traces of reference and inheritance, especially "Hero" is basically the structure of "Rashomon" plus the use of colors in "Ran".

These previous works are not bad, but Zhang Yimou's commercial film "The Great Wall" is also distinguished by this color. But I don't know what the purpose of using color is. It really has separated the technique from the purpose, and turned into technique for technique's sake, and color for color's sake.

Speaking of the film "Ran", even compared to these later works of the same technique, the shots in Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" are still the clearest, most impactful and visually pleasing.

His colors are not all piled up, but filled and left blank, with a beautiful rhythm and a true lens aesthetic.

But comparing the shots of other directors with Akira Kurosawa is indeed a bit embarrassing for other directors, so let's stop there. "Chaos", just like those films that are known for their images and lenses, still has its own shortcomings.

The main reason is that it pays too much attention to the performance of the dramatic tension of the images and the rhythm of the overall emotional flow, so the portrayal of the characters is a little thin. And the strong persuasion ability also makes the theme elaboration too strong, and lacks a reserved space with echoes that makes people think. This part makes the theme seem a little didactic, but it is obvious that "Ran" is also Kurosawa's excellent work.

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Extended Reading

Ran quotes

  • Kyoami: A serpent's egg is white and pure. A bird's is speckled and soiled.

    Hidetora: This is a castle... Here's a wall.

    Kyoami: The bird left the speckled egg for the white.

    Hidetora: Strange...

    Kyoami: The egg cracks; out comes a snake.

    Hidetora: Empty space above the wall. Why?

    Kyoami: The bird is gobbled by the snake.

    Hidetora: Where am I? Who am I?

    Kyoami: Stupid bird!

  • Kurogane: Saburo is not our only enemy.

    Jiro: So what? If they attack, we retaliate. We grab their land and enlarge our own.

    Kurogane: Fine words, but words don't win wars.