Matt Hurt’s review published on Letterboxd:
Kurosawa considered Kagemusha to be the "dress rehearsal" for Ran. After this first viewing, I was more engaged with Kagemusha, and didn't end up liking Ran as much. That could change with subsequent viewings.
The scope and beauty of Ran is crazy, though. It's so vibrant and beautiful while also being violent and heavy when it needs to be. I'm looking forward to revisiting it at some point.
I really hope Criterion gets the rights back and gives this movie a proper blu-ray release. I watched it on Vudu, presumably the same version from the Studio Canal blu-ray release, and it really needs an upgrade. Maybe someday. 🤞