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| Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:01 AM PDT  "Ran" Japanese Theatrical Poster AKA: Chaos By Kyle Warner Throughout Akira Kurosawa's illustrious career the director often adapted classic literature from overseas and transformed the stories into tales about Japan. Some of his favorite writers that he took the most inspiration from were Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and Maxim Gorky, but it's the Shakespeare adaptations that made for the most interesting films. Kurosawa did away with Shakespeare's words but kept the tragic plots largely intact. Shakespeare's Macbeth became Throne of Blood, a film about a samurai that commits murder in order to chase destiny. Hamlet was an inspiration for The Bad Sleep Well, a drama about a businessman carefully plotting his revenge against the executives responsible for his father's death. King Lear would become Ran, Kurosawa's final Shakespeare adaptation, which transformed the tragedy into a samurai epic. In the King Lear role is Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai). The story of Lear has an aging king that decides to live out his final years in peace and divide his kingdom among his three daughters. In Ran, Hidetora is a samurai lord with three sons, but the basic idea is the same. Hidetora believes that one son acting alone can be defeated but three united together are unbeatable, a point he attempts to illustrate when he passes along a bundle of three arrows from son to son. His eldest son Taro (Akira Terao), the man who is set to inherit the most from his father, is unable to break the three arrows. The middle son Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu) is also unable to break the arrows. The youngest son Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) struggles with the arrows at first, then breaks them over his knee. Saburo argues that his father is a senile old fool that cannot possibly understand what he's setting in motion. Saburo's older brothers scold him for questioning their father, but Saburo persists. In the end, Lord Hidetora disowns the disrespectful Saburo and banishes him into exile. Of course, we soon learn that Saburo, though blunt, was speaking the truth. Taro's wife Lady Kaeda (Mieko Harada) is the daughter of one of Hidetora's vanquished foes. Now that Lady Kaeda and her husband are in a position of power previously occupied by Hidetora, she manipulates Taro into a feud with Hidetora, which leads the old lord to leave the castle. Hidetora angrily stomps off to Jiro's castle, but Jiro is ambitious and believes he can supplant his older brother – his father will find no shelter here either. It's worse than Saburo warned him it would be, as ambition and vengeance drives the two brothers to war, which in turn drives Hidetora towards madness. In Kurosawa's earlier years he had directed many pictures about heroes. With Ran he deconstructs the hero, makes it into something misleading and cruel – even Hidetora, who we feel sympathetic for, is a warlord that killed mercilessly in his time. Ran is a very cynical film about the violence that men do to one another in order to get what they want. Thousands of people are asked to die for the vanity and greed of powerful men and women. In the big battle sequences where Kurosawa had previously showcased courage and resourcefulness, he now showcases blood, death, and pitiless tactics. The film's finest moment involves Taro and Jiro attacking the castle in which Hidetora is residing. It's a striking sequence where the sound effects and dialogue are muted and we only hear Toru Takemitsu's amazing score. The sequence finds Hidetora losing his mind within his castle as it burns around him. Kurosawa's production actually built the castle from the ground up only to burn it down. The sequence could only be shot once, making it all the more impressive as hundreds of extras charge past the camera, flames burn, arrows fly, blood is shed, and Tatsuya Nakadai goes crazy at the center of it all. I'm not always the biggest fan of Tatsuya Nakadai (though let's be clear, he's done some incredible work over the years). Occasionally I find his performances too calculated, like he's showing off his acting muscles instead of giving us a character of flesh-and-blood. His performance in Ran is sometimes criticized for being over-the-top, but I don't really see it that way. He begins the film as a proud samurai lord and is eventually reduced to a madman, a shadow of his former self. At the time Nakadai was only in his fifties but under makeup he successfully plays the part of a man about thirty years older. The makeup grows more exaggerated as the film progresses, making him appear ghost-like in the final act. His performance is certainly high-strung, but personally I consider it to be among his very best. The other most notable performance comes from Mieko Harada. Her Lady Kaeda is perhaps the best of Kurosawa's villains and must rank as one of the best female villains in all of Japanese cinema. Though the men she beds with like to think they are in control, it's actually Lady Kaeda that's pulling the strings and making them go where she wants. It's a great character and a great performance. Behind the scenes Kurosawa is joined by talents both old and new to him. Kurosawa's one of those directors who always had a big hand in writing his screenplays, but knew it was best to bring in other co-writers to keep him honest (his 1990 film Dreams was written by Kurosawa alone and it suffers for it). His co-writers for Ran, Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide, had both worked with the director before on previous films, but here he works with famed composer Toru Takemitsu for the first time. It's a strange score which features both Japanese flutes and a dreamlike new age quality. Music has always played an important part in Kurosawa's films and Takemitsu's score for Ran is one of the finest for any of his films. Joining Kurosawa as assistant director is Ishiro Honda, the director of such kaiju classics as Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan. Honda retired from directing after 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, but he had always been a good friend of Kurosawa's. In his later years Honda became Kurosawa's chief assistant director and valued confidant onset, something Kurosawa apparently needed in the rapidly changing landscape of filmmaking. The previous 20 years had been rough for Kurosawa. His 1965 film Red Beard was the ending of an era both creatively and thematically. He suffered a falling out with both longtime leading man Toshiro Mifune and longtime composer Masaru Sato. Red Beard also went way over schedule and over budget, which upset the studio. Kurosawa then went to make movies in America. His first US film was to be the thriller Runaway Train. However, snowstorms pushed the production back, and Kurosawa was constantly at odds with the American financial backers, and was supposedly unwilling to give up the control he was used to in Japan. Kurosawa left the project. Runaway Train was eventually filmed in 1985 by director Andrei Konchalovsky (Tango & Cash), using unknown portions of Kurosawa's original screenplay. Kurosawa then went to film the Japanese segments for 20th Century Fox's Tora! Tora! Tora!, but this too ended in failure. Despite working two years on pre-production for the war film, Kurosawa was fired just two weeks after shooting began and was replaced by Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) and Toshio Masuda (Rusty Knife), while Richard Fleischer (Soylent Green) would stay on to direct the American segments. Fans are always hopeful that one day Kurosawa's filmed scenes from Tora! Tora! Tora! will be discovered in a vault somewhere, but it's reasonable to believe that they are either lost or destroyed. Rumors began to spread from Fox that Kurosawa was mentally unstable and his work methods had a perfectionism to them that bordered on madness. The rumors followed Kurosawa back to Japan where he now found it nearly impossible to raise the money for future projects. Japan had always been strangely ambivalent towards Kurosawa. His films were viewed as too “Western” by some in the Japanese viewing public. And though his movies were often successful financially, he was not thought of as a national treasure while he was still alive the same way that Ozu and Mizoguchi were. Instead of turning to the producers and to young talents in the Japanese film industry after his failure in America, Kurosawa turned to old-school masters like himself and formed the production company Yonki-no-Kai Productions (Club of the Four Knights) with directors Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri), Kon Ichikawa (The Burmese Harp), and Keisuke Kinoshita (Twenty-four Eyes). The first Yonki-no-Kai film would be Kurosawa's 1970 drama Dodes'ka-den, which turned out to be such a financial failure that Yonki-no-Kai Productions only produced one other film before disbanding. Akira Kurosawa would attempt suicide the following year by slitting his wrists and throat. He survived, but now he was further ostracized from the Japanese public. His next film Dersu Uzala would be made in Soviet Russia in 1975 (and would end up as the only film he made outside of Japan). After that Kurosawa returned to Japan again. The 80s would prove to be a more successful decade for him than the 70s had been, but it was not thanks to the Japanese studios willing to give him another shot. In 1980 he made the historical epic Kagemusha only after longtime admirers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola stepped on as producers and were able to convince 20th Century Fox to help finance the film. And despite writing Ran around 1975, Kurosawa was unable to acquire funding for the project until 1984 when French producer Serge Silberman offered to help get the picture made (as such Ran is considered a Japanese/French co-production). With a budget of $12 million, Ran would become the most expensive Japanese film made at that point. Considering all of this, the fact that Ran was made at all is something of a miracle… but the fact that Ran is a brilliant film should come as no surprise. No director before or since made so many consistently entertaining films about the samurai world as did Kurosawa. But it's more than just a piece of entertainment. Kurosawa has said that “Hidetora is me” which is understandable when you stop to consider that this is a film about an old man who has lost his place in the world and is besieged by ambitious youth who want to remove him in some disrespectful manner. It's a samurai historical epic, it's a Shakespeare adaptation, and it's the work of an artist that's putting his life on screen behind the veil of storytelling. Kurosawa would go on to make three more films, but Ran is his last true masterpiece. Despite this, the Japanese were mostly unimpressed when it was first released. It was generally well received by critics but only barely earned enough to make back the money spent on the production. When award season rolled around, Ran was not even nominated for Best Picture in Japan's Academy Awards. For the Oscars, each country is allowed to submit one film to represent them for the Best Foreign Language Film category. Japan did not submit Ran, but rather Shunya Ito's Gray Sunset. Disturbed by this, American filmmakers (led by longtime fan Sidney Lumet) campaigned on Kurosawa's behalf to get Ran nominated for as many Oscars as possible. Ran was nominated for four Oscars, including costume design (which it won), cinematography, art direction, and Best Director: Akira Kurosawa. Gray Sunset did not make the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film and has since faded into almost complete obscurity; meanwhile in the thirty years since its release Ran's reputation has only grown and the movie is now commonly thought of as one of the greatest epics ever made, as well as one of the best Shakespeare adaptations ever put to film. Ran is available on Blu-Ray from Lionsgate as part of their StudioCanal Collection line. If I'm to be perfectly honest, the picture quality is far short of what the colorful film deserves. The bright scenes look good and there's plenty of detail on screen, but the dark scenes are way too grainy – distractingly so. Ran had previously been available on DVD from the Criterion Collection, but that DVD is now out of print. The StudioCanal Blu-Ray does look better than the Criterion DVD, but it's not a huge improvement. Sadly unless new source materials are discovered this may end up being the best the film will ever look. It's my opinion that Akira Kurosawa is the best director of all time. He made so many brilliant films that even some of his less successful attempts might've been considered masterworks in most other director's filmographies. Kurosawa worked as a director from 1943 to 1993. It's difficult to pick a favorite among his more active first three decades, but if you look at the films he made from 1970-1993 the pick should be an obvious one: Ran, a historical epic of the highest order. Kyle Warner’s Rating: 10/10 |
| Cityonfire.com’s ‘Killers’ Blu-ray Giveaway! Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:00 AM PDT  Killers | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA) Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies of The Mo Brothers’ Killers to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this music video. We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Additionally, you must 'Like Us' on cityonfire.com's Facebook by clicking here. The Blu-ray & DVD for Killers will be officially released on April 7, 2015. We will announce the 3 winners on April 7, 2015 and ship out the prizes immediately. CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by April 6, 2015 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice. |
| Sammo Hung does some serious damage in ‘The Bodyguard’ Posted: 13 Mar 2015 12:00 AM PDT  "Mr. Nice Guy" Chinese Theatrical Poster It has been 17 long years since Sammo Hung has directed a movie (1997′s Once Upon A Time in China and America), but now, the Hong Kong legend is back in the director’s chair with Old Soldier, an action film about a thief (Firestorm’s Andy Lau) who finds himself wanted by U.S. and Russian law enforcements. Starring alongside Lau is Sammo Hung himself, Yuen Qiu, Karl Maka, Dean Shek, Yuen Wah and Tsui Hark. Old Soldier’s lead role was recently linked to Jackie Chan, but due to scheduling conflicts (and his son’s recent drug arrest), he declined and Lau stepped in. Old Soldier would have been the first time Hung would be directing Chan since 1997′s Mr. Nice Guy. Updates: Due to cast changes, looks like Old Soldier now has a new title, a different plot and a starring role by Sammo Hung himself. Here’s the scoop according to Film Combat Syndicate: The film is now titled The Bodyguard and its story follows a retired bodyguard (Hung) who has settled in the dark and unknown corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet. Suffering from the beginnings of dementia, the bodyguard is befriended by a young girl whose life is threatened when her father (Andy Lau) falls in with the local crime world. When the girl and her father disappear, the bodyguard must call upon his long forgotten skills to save the life of his young friend. Filming for Sammo Hung’s The Bodyguard has wrapped up, thanks to the Sammo Hung: Action Movie Legend blog (via Film Combat Syndicate) for the scoop. The film has a possible release date for summer 2015. BREAKING NEWS: In the first still from the film, it looks like Sammo's done some serious damage to a bunch of guys, and that's just awesome. – Thanks to Sam the Man |
| Deal on Fire! Ong-Bak Trilogy | Blu-ray | Only $13.49 – Expires soon! Posted: 12 Mar 2015 12:00 AM PDT  "Ong-Bak Trilogy" Blu-ray Cover Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Tony Jaa’s Ong-Bak Trilogy. This 3-disc collection includes 2003′s Ong-Bak, 2008′s Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning and 2010′s Ong-Bak 3. The original Ong-Bak broke new ground when it was released in 2003. According to The Raid 2 filmmaker Garath Evans: “Tony Jaa is a phenomenal talent. Ong Bak was a major announcement to the industry and to audiences that the martial arts genre was back.” Order the Ong-Bak Trilogy today! |
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