Ran was a film I really enjoyed. It was humorous, had interesting characters, great cinematography and a good plot. Because I found the film to be a comedy just as much as a war drama, I want to discuss that humor.
Ran is a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who is an extremely respected and known director. Kevin explained in class that Kurosawa, although a Japanese director, did use some western ideas in his films. I mention all of this because while watching Ran and laughing at certain parts, I was wondering if I was appropriate in my laughter or not. For example, I (and many others) laughed really hard every time we saw Lord Hidetora Ichimonji in his failing state—he had white crazy hair, he kept on asking ridiculous questions and saying nonsense, which made it really funny. His comedic loyal follower always made things seem even funnier because he would start singing or commenting on Lord Hidetora’s actions.
It seemed like the film makers used some parts of the plot that seem ridiculous to sort of make fun of the characters or make light of the situation… but then again I’m not sure. Sometimes when I laughed I think it was probably because of the translation of words. I’m not sure how translations are made, so at times I wonder if it was appropriate for me to find things funny or not.
Some other things that I found amusing were the battle at the third castle (where Lord Hidetora Ichimonji walked out alive) and the desert type scenes with Lord Hidetora Ichimonji and the young comedian joker. I want to clarify that the scenes overall were not amusing to me, but only parts of them. (One of my favorite shots came from the scene where Lord Hidetora’s foot came down the step before walking away from the fighting.) The way in which the battle sequence was filmed seemed like the movement was quick. During this sequence the audience didn’t hear any battle sounds, but rather very soothing music. The music, quick movement, dramatic way in which the soldiers were fighting, and the use of fake squirty blood reminded me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is a very amusing movie.
Besides what I previously mentioned about Lord Hidetora and his comedian during the desert scene, the desert/ruined castle set reminded me of films made about Bible-times, specifically the movies that act out a book in the Bible. There are scenes from these Bible movies that have been dubbed over to be a mock-Bible movie/ funny version of it. I’ve seen a few on youtube.com. The desert scene in Ran reminded me of these, which made me laugh. This set also seems to have qualities of a cowboy film. For example, when the two men were riding their horses past the ruins, Tango was up high on the rocks (like a bandit) and ran down to injure or kill them.
Another scene that sort of related to the Bible-movie reminder where I also found myself laughing was when the blind guy, Tsurumaru, was being led by his sister. I laughed and that seems terrible! However, it was absurd that his sister left him in the desert at the ruins of their home when he was blind!
Even though I’m not sure if the film was meant to be a comedy and a war drama, I liked it for how I interpreted it. I found comfort in the fact that other people were laughing and making comments that I was thinking. Watching Ran with a group of people was great to hear and join in on reactions to the film.
1 comment:
I did find the movie to be funny, it was hard not to laugh at some parts of the movie. The acting was sooo over the top! I also thought that the jester was hilarious, at first, I could not tell if he was male or female,and the gender confusion added to how funny he was. I think that the coloring of the movie made it seem less like a war movie and more like a comedy. There were bright colors everywhere, nothing was muted. It seems like war movies are more gray, not so colorful. I think that those scenes of comedy broke up the gross fighting scenes.
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