Ghost Of Tsushima: 10 Samurai Films You NEED To Watch First
3. Ran
Akira Kurosawa's 1985 samurai film Ran took the world by storm with its insane battle sequences and lavish set design, color, and cinematography. Filled large battle set pieces and beautiful direction, it culminates into a whole sensory experience. It follows the fall of a family succumbing to the corruption of power and the sins of the father destroying the future.
Based loosely on the Shakespearan tragedy King Lear, the film follows aging feudal Lord Hidetora Ichimonji during the Sengoku-period as he confronts his mortality. Distraught, he decides to divide his kingdom into three parts and give each part to his three sons: Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. He hopes that his sons will carry with them a brighter future and promise of peace through the land and learn from his mistakes.
Hidetora's epiphany of potential peace takes a turn for the worse as the three sons envision something differently. His past trespasses begin to haunt him as he confronts the atrocities and cruelty he enacted on others as his own sons turn against him.
At the heart of this epic is a movie about inheriting the mistakes of the past generation, the consequence of pursuing power at the expense of others, and human beings inevitably repeating history. Its themes of nihilism and madness are accentuated perfectly with the meticulously crafted battle sequences that swirl in a sea of endless chaos.