6. Ran
Orion PicturesHaving already tackled Shakespeare in Throne of Blood (adapting MacBeth) and The Bad Sleep Well, in which he updated Hamlet to contemporary Japan, he revisited the great bard once again in 1985 for his feudal Japanese interpretation of King Lear, Ran. Foolish pride leads an aging warlord to banish the only son with the integrity to speak to him with honesty, leaving his other far more duplicitous sons to trick and deceive their way into power. The sharp black and white of Kurosawa's previous Shakespearean adaptations has gone, in its place a rich and detailed colour palette which at is at its most striking in the incredibly staged battle sequences. It marked a tremendous return to form for the director and is all the more impressive considering that such an epic production was made when he was in his mid-70s.