YMMV / Ran

• Award Snub: It wasn't nominated for Best Picture or even the expected Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, despite being one of the most critically acclaimed film of 1985. (The Foreign Language Film snub wasn't the Academy's fault. Ran didn't get nominated because Kurosawa was unpopular in the Japanese film industry, so the Japanese film board refused to submit it for nomination.) It was only after other film directors (notably Sidney Lumet) campaigned for Kurosawa's nomination for Best Director that he was successfully nominated. He still lost to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa. The movie did win an Oscar for the incredible Costume Design for Emi Wada, and it was nominated for Cinematography and Art (Set) Direction.
• Awesome Music: Toru Takemitsu's Western style music score.
• Jerkass Woobie: Hidetora was a ruthless ruler, but the film puts him through such a hell that one can't help but pity him at the end.
• Magnificent Bitch: Lady Kaede is the true villain of the film. Desiring revenge against Hidetora and the Ichimonji clan for slaughtering her family years ago, Kaede convinces her husband, Hidetora's eldest son Taro, to usurp his father and war against his brother Jiro. Upon Taro's death, she effortlessly seduces Jiro, convinces him to kill his wife and then manipulates him into disastrous strategies that bring the Ichimonji to ruin. When Jiro's general Kurogane confronts her when the battle is lost, Kaede calmly admits to everything, showing absolutely no fear of dying with her ultimate goals achieved.
• Moral Event Horizon: Much of Kaede's scheming against Hidetora and his family is fairly justified (or at least understandable) considering her unpleasant history with the Lord. Her plan to murder Sué, an innocent party and entirely unneccessary to her long-term goals, proves that her revenge plot has pushed her past any chance of sympathy.
• Nightmare Fuel: The gory, disturbing details of the siege on Third Castle.
• Narm Charm: Not "charm", per se, but the while the quite-obviously-fake blood would kill the mood in most films, it does not in this one.
  • The deliberately exaggerated, Noh-influenced performances and make-up also work way better than one might expect. It's over-the-top, but it feels right and it enhances the film's mood.
• Signature Scene: The entire Third Castle sequence, particularly the scene of a shell shocked Hidetora walking out of the burning castle as Taro and Jiro's armies watch him. It's widely considered one of the best battle scenes ever filmed.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The ending. As Saburo's army carry the bodies of Hidetora and his son away, Tsurumaru is left alone atop the desolate ruins of his family's old castle, not knowing that his sister has been murdered. As he blindly walks around trying to find a way out of the ruins, he runs up against a cliff and ends up dropping the scroll of the Buddha that Sue gave him for protection, leaving him completely alone without even the comfort of the gods, as the sun sinks over the horizon and the screen fades to black. Goddamn.
  • The deaths of Hidetora and Saburo, right as it looks like they were about to get a Happy Ending.
  • Arguably, Hidetora's entire ordeal after escaping the Third Castle. Break the Haughty is an understatement for what happens to him.
  • The scene immediately following the Third Castle, where Tango and Kyoami take a catatonic Hidetora to an isolated cabin that it turns out belongs to Tsurumaru, who Hidetora had blinded and exiled years ago. Hidetora's genuine remorse for his sins and grief for the loyal men who died protecting him are bad enough, but Tsurumaru's presence makes things even worse, as he's a living reminder that Hidetora brought it all on himself.
• Vindicated by History: The film wasn't a success (nor was it a flop) when it was released in the US in 1985, doing modestly at the box office (if not slightly above average for a foreign film) and winning only a handful of awards, despite near universal critical acclaim. Its response in Japan however, — like most of Kurosawa's post Red Beard efforts — was largely of disinterest and the Japanese film board actively sabotaged its chances of being nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. Nowadays, it's widely considered among Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces and among the best movies of all time.
• The Woobie: Tsurumaru, Lady Sué, Kyoami.

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