One legend adapting another.
Using Shakespeare’s King Lear as a jumping-off point, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, going full-tilt at age 75, delivers a film of staggering power and beauty.
His tale concerns a fading warlord who tries to split his wealth and power among his three sons, only to have everything go to Hell in a handbasket.
Instead of the unity he’s seeking to enforce, the old man — who rose to power through his own feats of brute strength — finds his kingdom destroyed by greed, violence, and destruction.
A haunting late-in-life masterpiece, this one roars with fire and passion.
