I recount this history because I think there is much of Kurosawa in "Ran," made when he was 75. Finally he found an angel in the maverick French producer Serge Silberman, who had backed outsiders such as Luis Bunuel and now found the funds for "Ran." Kurosawa had directed 12 films from 1950 to 1965, but "Ran" was only his fourth in the next 20 years. In 1980 he made the magnificent medieval epic " Kagemusha" as a "rehearsal" for the big film although it was a success, there was still no money for "Ran." He filled notebooks with drawings of locations and costumes, and storyboards of scenes. In 1975 he announced he wanted to make a samurai epic based on "King Lear," but could find no financing. Another five years passed before he found Russian financing for "Dersu Uzala," the story of a Mongolian woodsman who guides a Russian explorer it won the Oscar for best foreign film, but was a failure at the box office. His " Dodes'ka-den" (1970), a Dickensian view of life among the poor in Tokyo, was rejected by Japanese audiences. Condemned as "too Western" and old-fashioned in Japan, he begged for his budgets.
He was master of his destiny for only 15 years of a long life, from 1950 (" Rashomon") to 1965 (" Red Beard"), and in that span he made the masterpieces " The Seven Samurai," "The Throne of Blood," " Ikiru," "The Hidden Fortress," "High and Low" and the twin samurai films " Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro," among others. Today we include Kurosawa (1910-1998) among the greatest directors, but for years he was without honor and funds in his own country.
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