Wednesday | 13.11.24

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Monthly Screenings
Ran
Dir.: Akira Kurosawa | 161 minutes

Other Screenings

Prior to the screening, lecture by Prof. Naomi Mandel, The English Department at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Naomi Mandel situates Akira Kurosawa's Ran in relation to his previous Shakespeare adaptations Kumonosu-jo / Macbeth (1957) and The Bad Sleep Well / Hamlet (1960), as well as to other cinematic interpretations of King Lear from the same period: Grigori Koznitsev film Лир/Lear and Peter Brooks' King Lear (both 1971). Turning to Kurosawa's cinematic techniques (especially his use of long shots, editing, and sound), she explores the philosophical implications of the director's  engagements with the Shakespeare source material and the unique perspective suggested by the incorporation of Japanese history and aesthetics

Ran
Japan, France 1985 | 161 minutes | Japanese | Hebrew, English subtitles

Kurosawa’s epic version of King Lear keeps many of the main themes of Shakespeare’s play, while turning the daughters into sons and transposing the action to 16th century Japan... "Ran" means chaos in Japanese, and Kurosawa explores the meaning of power, the insoluble conflict between what seems to be good and what is perceived as evil: for example, the great beauty that emerges from a battlefield where armies are slaughtered, or the sympathy for an avenger who lost her entire family. In short, Ran is a masterpiece not to be missed.