Ran (DVD)

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Video:
The back cover art of the DVD case states that the video has been framed at 1.85:1, but I´ve seen plenty of 1.85:1 transfers to video to know that the new "Ran" DVD does NOT offer a 1.85:1 image. The image looks to be about 1.75:1, and it is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen (16:9) monitors. Not only is the image less wide than advertised, it has also been mis-framed. The image is simply not as wide as it should be given the fact that many words during the opening credits have letters chopped off of either their beginnings or ends. Kurosawa spent years painting storyboards for "Ran", so he used widescreen compositions for maximum effect. Wellspring´s zooming in on the film negative makes everything feel cramped and effectively destroys Kurosawa´s artistic vision.

The problems continue. Every frame exhibits excessive shimmering, and the picture´s colors seem to be mis-timed (chemically inaccurate, imbalanced, and un-corrected). There are plenty of digital artifacts such as mosquito noise and halos that look like wet smudges. Foreground objects appear to be unnaturally separated from backgrounds. Some scene transitions are jittery due to the fact that some sprocket holes on the film negative are damaged, causing the image to shake. To cap things off, whoever created the "new" high-def master didn´t bother to remove the "reel change" burn marks that appear in the upper-right-hand corner every 15-20 minutes.

The truth of the matter is that the print itself seems to be in good condition, but the digital transfer was done carelessly. The fact that Wellspring didn´t frame the movie properly will only break the hearts of serious filmgoers. From a technical standpoint, the video probably rates a 5. From an esthetic point of view, I have to rate the video a 1.

Audio:
Since the medium of cinema is primarily a visual one, I won´t rate the DVD´s audio as harshly as I did its video. For the most part, the Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese audio track sounds like a re-jigged version of the film´s original mono soundtrack (included on the DVD in DD 2.0 mono Japanese guise). Gunshots and raging fires sound like New Year´s firecrackers and cackling fireplaces rather than the real deals. The music score tends to be shrill, thin, and a bit shaky. There aren´t really any directionality effects except for some birds chirping from the rear speakers. Still, dialogue is always clear and intelligible, and there aren´t any pops or hisses. The audio on this DVD isn´t bad--it was simply indifferently created.

Optional English subtitles support the audio. The subtitles have numerous spelling errors that are distracting. For example, "Don´t lick your chops yet" has been encoded as "Don´t like your chops yet". WTF?

Extras:
This is the second time that Wellspring is releasing "Ran" on DVD. The first DVD had neither anamorphic widescreen video nor any substantive extras. This new "The Masterworks Edition" DVD has a pair of promos for the movie, a Kurosawa filmography (text pages), some production notes (also text pages), a "Restoration Demo" that lazily shows "before and after" shots comparing the new DVD image to the old VHS/LD/DVD master, and some weblinks (to websites that probably can provide more useful information than the DVD).

There are also two audio commentaries on the DVD. Peter Grilli, producer of the documentary "Kurosawa", recorded one track, and Stephen Prince, author of "The Warrior´s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa", recorded the other. Surprisingly, given their credentials, neither man seems to have much worthwhile to say about the movie. Both commentaries are filled with plenty of gaps, and both Grilli and Prince resort to narrating or stating the obvious. Wellspring should´ve found either a Japanese culture expert or a Shakespeare expert to do a talk track for "Ran".

On the main menu page, clicking on the Wellspring logo leads to a text page of DVD production credits.

--Miscellaneous--
A glossy insert provides chapter listings.

Film Value:
Wellspring didn´t get "Ran" right the first time that it issued a DVD of the movie. Now the company is selling a "The Masterworks Edition" that has extras that are worth scant attention and a video transfer that is emotionally painful to look upon. "Ran" deserves much better than it has endured at Wellspring´s hands, so here´s to hoping that Akira Kurosawa´s adaptation of "King Lear" will be re-done on DVD soon.

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