While King Lear is regarded as arguably the greatest of all Shakespearian tragedies, it is not uncommon for postmodern critics to bring "a deep distrust of all attempts at closure" in their approach to text, the inherent complexities of which seem to suggest the "negation of the possibility of unity, coherence, and resolution." However, in Ran, Akira Kurosawa's cinematic adaptation of the play, whatever indeterminacy that might be evident in King Lear appears to have become subordinated to an essentially Aristotelian definition of tragedy, marked by "the representation of an action that is complete and whole" through "unity of plot." Through a comparative analysis of certain key cinematic elements in Ran, we will see how the inherent nature of the film medium is harnessed to present not only a picture of profound existential desolation, but also a deeper philosophical discourse exploring the nature of aesthetic and religious transcendence.