Thanks, and good to hear from someone else who appreciates Kurosawa. It's hard to believe the similarities between Ran and King Lear are coincidence. It's not

Thanks, and good to hear from someone else who appreciates Kurosawa. It's hard to believe the similarities between Ran and King Lear are coincidence. It's not just the plot but many elements of the story, too. Also, Kurosawa based other films on Shakespeare plays. Wikipedia, FWIW, says he started with a Japanese story and incorporated King Lear "after he had started pre-planning".