Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to historical Japan. The equivalent of the tragic Scottish lord is Taketoki Washizu (Toshiro Mifune), a valiant warrior whose life is transformed by an encounter with a ghostly female spirit. The spirit offers
several predictions, finally stating that Washizu will rise to power over the current warlord. When these predictions begin coming true, he and his ambitious wife decide to ensure his ascendancy to power by murdering the current ruler. As with Macbeth, Washizu achieves his goal, but his guilt and the suspicions of others soon bring about his downfall. The shift to Japanese settings is seamless, creating a historically accurate and resonant work with a culturally distinct visual style. The supporting performances also recall Japanese tradition, particularly Isuzu Yamada's creepily unemotional take on Lady Macbeth, while Mifune proves consistently gripping in the sheer intensity of his performance. The intelligence of Kurosawa's alterations retains the drama's tragic impact, especially during the conclusion, in which Washizu makes a memorable final stand against an advancing army. Impressive in every regard, Throne of Blood seems secure in the pantheon of superior film adaptations of William Shakespeare. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
Akira Kurosawa's remarkable 1957 restaging of Macbeth in samurai and expressionist terms is unquestionably one of his finest works -- charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror.
We label it amusing because lightly is the only way to take this substantially serio-comic rendering of the story of an ambitious Scot into a form that combines characteristics of the Japanese No theatre and the American Western film.
In fact, in the scene where Lady Asaji leaves a room and disappears into the darkness to get sake to make the guards drunk, the ominous rustling of her silk gown is as chilling as Lady Macbeth's lines.
Transplanted to medieval Japan, Kurosawa's brutal film is one of the best Shakesperean adaptations on screen, with a tour de force performance from Toshiro Mifune; it makes a fascinating double bill with the masterful Ran
It's visually ravishing, as you would expect, employing compositional tableaux from the Noh drama, high contrast photography, and extraordinary images of rain, galloping horses, the birds fleeing from the forest.
Akira Kurosawa film adaptations of a Shakespeare play? And without a doubt the best thing ever done on Macbeth easy. Just add my country --Japan-- and you have another hit.
The amazing Toshirō Mifune is of course in this epic by Kurosawa. Nicely done music and settings....I loved the landscapes and production
aspects. Beautiful costumes and camera work and direction.
Oh hell it's my second favourite Kurosawa and one of my top 20 you go figure.
July 18, 2011
Keiko Aya
Super Reviewer
Watching this Japanese version was strange for me and I wasn't exactly sure what to think of it as I watched. Some parts were different but great (the cultural aspects of Japan embedded in what is supposed to be English play) while others just plain weird (i.e. the witches being replaced by some sort of eerie ghost
spirit). Lady Macbeth was very creepy. Slowly the film gets better and towards the end it definitely had my attention. Being a definitely interesting re-working of Shakespeare's Macbeth, this was worth the watch.
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