Japan Ran sits in the top 9% of Japan films on this catalog — ranked #426 of 4,579 by TMDB audience score.
Synopsis
乱
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”
With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa's late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power.
Audience Engagement
1,361 audience reviews — more than 98% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (98th percentile) outruns trending popularity (81th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #426 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (91st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.2 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #189 of 1,714 (top 11%).
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Ran. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Nippon Herald Films
Action + Drama in Japan
444 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Ran itself).
The 1984–1986 Japan Window
Among 91 Japan films we catalog from this window, Ran places #10 — near the top of its class.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Japan, 280 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Ran premiered alongside 33 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 40m runtime, production spent $72K per minute on screen and earned $74K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 33 other Japan films in 1985.
The 642nd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Ran, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- heir to the throne · 4
- descent into madness · 2
- ruins · 2
- hopelessness · 2
- inheritance fight · 1
- king lear · 1
- black widow · 1
- feudal japan · 26
- gun · 22
- assassination · 17
- kingdom · 13
- greed · 12
- epic · 10
- seppuku · 7
- castle · 6
- revenge · 210
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, France |
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Nippon Herald Films, Greenwich Film Production, Herald Ace, TOHO |
| Runtime | 2h 40m |
| Release Date | June 1, 1985 |
| IMDb | tt0089881 |