Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Release: 15th January 1957 (Japan)
'Throne of Blood' is the first of a trilogy of Shakespeare adaptations from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Considered one of the greatest directors of all time, Kurosawa transposes medieval Scotland for feudal Japan in his rendition of Macbeth and is considered one of the greatest, most effective Shakespeare adaptations of all time. which effectively emphasizes the tension and horror of the original play. In typical Kurosawa style, the emphasis of the film remains upon the themes of sadness and fear from the original play and the samurai style only emphasises the sense of fear, tension and misplaced masculine pride.
Toshiro Mifune perfectly balances the madness, blind ambition and insecurity of Taketoki Washizu (the Macbeth of the film) that allows us to not only understand the origins of his motives but to sympathise with a character who in many circumstances could be viewed the villain and despite a physically aggressive performance it is potentially the most emotionally charged performance of the character ever. Isuzu Yamada (Lady Asaji Washizu or Lady Macbeth if you will) again approaches the usually aggressive character of Lady Macbeth with a chillingly calm demeanour that is so justified and precise it’s easy to understand her manipulation of such a powerful war general. This in turn only further allows her outbursts of anger and dominance to resonate in the several moments they occur. This is all covered by the haunting score from Masaru Sato and a layer of fog that increases the level of unknown fear and the paranormal elements of spirits.
My issues with the film existed almost entirely with the editing. The pace remained incredibly slow throughout and whilst in places this worked well to provide tension and a sense of dread, it did frequently have shots that lasted far longer than necessary. As well as this, several of the transitions uses swipes and fade to blacks that seem very unnatural for the feudal Japan setting. Cuts usually remain unnoticed by the audience and instead of this adding an interesting, stylistic aspect to the film, I instead found it abrasive and it drew me out of the film.
Overall, some questionable editing choices left my viewing of the film divided and distracting from the story line but terrific acting and haunting visuals emphasised the film’s plot and made it a spectacular adaption of Macbeth.
7/10
