Ran

Ran was both Kurosawa’s final epic and final samurai film — this from a filmmaker whose career was practically defined by them. It should come as no surprise then that it is widely cited to be one of his finest achievements. Such an epic production required years of planning. In fact, Kurosawa first began work on the film in the early 1970s, and it was not until after 1975’s Dersu Uzala and 1980’s Kagemusha (his self proclaimed “dry run” epic) that he finally assembled the team and financing to bring it to the screen. Ran was a reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear, set in sixteenth-century Japan and following a family dynasty crumbling under weight of war, betrayal and greed. It is no surprise that the Japanese title, 乱, translates simply to “chaos”.

This Japanese B0 is as epic as the film itself and is one of five different designs created to promote the film — all of which are available from Marquee Poster. This huge set of posters must have made a formidable display upon its premiere!