Ran

Ran (1985) is Kurosawa's final masterpiece. After the flop of Red Beard in 1965, a tough, restless period began for the Japanese director. Almost a decade later, he began his magnum opus, making oil paintings of all the shots. He wrote the screenplay for Ran in 1974: King Lear in feudal Japan. An ancient emperor divides his empire among three power-hungry sons. Partly due to the serpent tongue of a noblewoman, a civil war ensues, in which the emperor slowly loses everything: his honor, power, family and life. With $12 million, he staged gigantic fight scenes; 1,400 extras fought at the foot of Mount Fuji in handmade costume, captured by five cameras simultaneously.

According to reviewers at the time, Kurosawa couldn't have made Ran until he was 75, and it is felt. He demands patience from the viewer, giving the story the stateliness and tragedy of a grand epic. You see how cruel Lord Hidetora's violent past catches up with him while the future eludes him, until nothing remains. Fifty years later, it is still deeply moving.