Revolt

Title: Ran
Year: 1985
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni & Masato Ide, based on a play by William Shakespeare
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada
Music: Tôru Takemitsu
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Costume Design; Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration; currently #136 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 160 minutes
Synopsis: King Lear set in feudal Japan
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for pacing and acting) c. 3.1/4 (Very good).

The story is great, of course, although it moves far too slowly. I give it a reluctant point for cinematography because it's a very pretty movie; the cinematography isn't so great however where it comes to telling the story (beyond setting the tone). For most of the movie he insists on staying on a wide shot, which makes it (1) feel more like watching a play than a movie (arguably a good thing) and (2) difficult in places to tell which character is saying which line.