Aesthetics of slaughter

I watched Kurosawa's Ran last night. It's not the first time I've seen it and I guess it's in the nature of rewatching films that one sees different things or at least sees them in a different way. It's a wonderful and spectacular film. It's a retelling of Lear moved to early modern Japan and everything goes horribly wrong as expected. It's the visual aesthetics that make it foe me though. The palette is almost fauvist. From the very first scene we are assaulted by primary colours but it works. I don't think I've ever seen large scale slaughter photographed so beautifully. There's a particular disturbing scene in which the Great Lord sits completely impassive while the most horrible but almost poetic carnage swirls around him. It's a really disturbing image. Definitely a film to see if you haven't already.