This 1985 film was the last proper epic from Japanese maestro Akira Kurosawa, and it’s a magisterial achievement. An adaptation of King Lear, rereleased in a splendid 4K restoration, it tells the story of Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai), an elderly warlord with a history of ruthless slaughter, who entrusts his domain to three sons, rather than daughters, their individual battle regalia – red, yellow and blue – giving the film a striking colour coordination. The increasingly livid, ghostly Noh-style makeup worn by Nakadai highlights the theatricality, as does a somewhat Brechtian performance from Peter (just Peter) as an androgynous fool.
Kurosawa’s deployment of huge armies in vast landscapes displays a pre-digital mastery that we can only gasp at today, and the castle siege sequence – arrows flying, blood flowing, stage crimson – is all the more magnificent for the distancing use of Tôru Takemitsu’s sombre orchestral score. Stealing the show is Mieko Harada, chillingly authoritative as the ruthless Lady Kaede.
