Throne of Blood (The Criterion Collection)

My rating is more of a 4.5Thanks for reading!𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇.The first of Kurosawa’s films to be inspired by one of William Shakespeare's plays, ‘Throne of Blood’ was initially conceived soon after the release of Rashomon; opting to wait following Orson Welles’ release of ‘Macbeth’ in 1948, Kurosawa adaptation of this - transposing it from the setting of medieval Scotland feudal Japan - is considered when we the best versions of this particular story to be an existence.As with the play, this film tells the story of a warrior who assassinates his sovereign at the urging of his ambitious wife.For his portrayal of General Washizu, Toshiro Mifune earned a Mainichi Film Award for best actor. More than well deserved, his performance puts us in the headspace of the ill-fated egoist and his nuanced subtleties of rage balanced with audacious laughter meet and rise above the necessities and mere obligations of his script.(SUPER fun fact: The famed arrow scene near the end was done with REAL arrows, although some were strategically replaced with bamboo fakes. There were certainly less controversial ways to rouse fear out of Mifune, but this was certainly an effective one!) As with ‘Macbeth’, ‘Throne of Blood’ explores the power women are capable of having and using without compromising traditional notions of feminine delicacy. Isuzu Yamada encapsulates this Puppet-Master like paradigm with a stillness that chills - pestering and festering with every moment she’s on screen.Set in feudal Japan, Kurosawa makes use of elements that are culturally relevant and consequently results in retelling of ‘Macbeth;’ that is tickled fantasy; the costuming is to 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 and the set design is boldly immersive. Shot by Asakazu Nakai, his eye for composition keeps the action at what would be eye-level for his viewers unless the narrative is better served by a wider shot. As if written with an international audience in mind, the aesthetics of this particular time are indulged without alienating otherwise foreign viewers to Kurosawa’s purpose and intentions. ‘Throne of Blood’ is exceptionally easy to follow with enough information given to elaborate on contextual intricacies without subjecting its spectators to intermittent fogs of confusion.Certainly - the universal nature of Kurosawa’s creation here isn’t a complete accident. Macbeth at its core is a precautionary tale about the use of ambition as both a poison and an antidote albeit infused with supernatural (or, what some might consider otherwise farfetched) components. Additionally, ‘Throne of blood’ makes us privy to conflict that is intimately intertwined with loyalty - with it's bubbling discourse challenging traditional assertions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ as oppositional dichotomies. (This is probably best Illustrated when Washizu at one point desperately calls for help from the very apparition that ominously loomed his fate - and not by name, but plainly as “evil spirit”. It’s a nice touch of irony that is undeniably appreciated).Borrowing heavily from one of the greatest playwrights ever known (and, let's be honest, who doesn't at this point?), ‘Throne of Blood’ excels as an example of imitation that doesn't forfeit the influence of ingenuity. Kurosawa would likely suggest that there is a Macbeth - or in this case, a Washizu - inside of all of us: often folding under the strain of crumbling manifestos and our own warped forms of destiny. And through it all we cope: with the prophecies we write, with the prophecies we welcome, and with the prophecies that wither away.

I first saw this film as a child, and what I remember most vividly is the arrow through the neck. Mifune stumbles this way and that, an impossible number of arrows perforating him and the wall near him. Screaming, shambling away, he cannot escape the crescendo of doom. The sequence is almost like the shower murder in Psycho; it just builds and builds, quick cuts, whistling arrows, terrified reactions, until -Until the arrow in the neck. Then there's this beat, this elongated pause. Mifune isn't screaming any more. His face is frozen like the proverbial deer in the headlights. His fate is truly sealed. He's dead and he knows it, even if he has not actually stopped breathing, just yet.So climaxes Akira Kurosawa's telling of MacBeth. This is no spoiler - everybody knows he has to die. That we know his fate, even while he, himself denies it, is part of the tale's enduring power.Kurosawa and his team have created some inspired and genuinely chilling images and sounds: consider the voice of the witch in the woods, which is not quite human-sounding and rumbles with basso profundo undertones. Or the silvery clouds of fog hugging the moist, coal-black forest floor in the film's brilliant black-and-white cinematography. Or the palpably other-worldly quality of the apparitions that drive our hero nearly to madness. The visual compositions have an eerie precision, an expressionism not generally seen outside of the old German masters of the 20's.The acting is, indeed, highly stylized - even stilted, but so is Elizabethan English and, for that matter, the very notion of the soliloquy. We don't complain about either of those aspects of MacBeth when we see it in its original form, do we? Perhaps other reviewers here are correct in ascribing much of the film's style to the Noh theater tradition. I cannot say, since I have never seen it.But I have seen this film, and it occupies an esteemed place in my video collection.

Everything you've read about just how good the movie is is correct. It's a technical masterpiece. This movie gets 5 stars mostly for Mifune's face and acting alone, although Yamada's chilling Lady Macbeth, er, Washizu brings a dark, knowing smile.The movie does lack those all-important soliloquies which give Macbeth readers more insight into his descent into madness, along with The Bard's wisdom along the way. Instead, we rely on Mifune's face, which is so damned good that it almost makes up for the lack of the soliloques.

Blood, crows, ambition, arrows, fear, horror, fog, madness, death.The endless scenes of the frightened, whinnying horses, dashing through the impenetrable fog, reined and turned again and again by the lost, frightened and confused Mifune and Chiaki. The scene is unbearable, frustrating, and makes us understand what it is to "lose one's way" in the metaphorical sense as shown by the physical reality. This is what great film does: works on many levels, and offers us an intimate visual experience of the conceptual.Noh provided inspiration for Mifune's visual presence: Kuroswa showed Mifune a Noh mask and asked him to become that.(Between us-you always thought that Toshiro Mifune looked like a Japanese woodcut, anyway, didn't you? Something so deeply icon-like in that face! Of course Mifune was born to become THE samurai of film...he was already a part of the Japanese Collective Unconscious!)Lady Macbeth's performance and makeup was also inspired by Noh. The blend of physical reality (the legendary Kurosawan attention to the smallest details of set and ambience) with the presentational aspects of traditional Japanese dramaturgy creates a rich and startling tapestry from Shakespeare's familiar story.That this Macbeth is not language, but rather, image-driven shows us Kurosawa's great faith in the value of cinema as a form of deep human communication. He's convinced me, and I humbly submit my thanks.

Durante años he disfrutado de esta película en la versión DVD que sacó al mercado la productora española Filmax. Ahora me he hecho con esta versión de contracorriente en formato blu Ray que los amantes de Kurosawa agradecemos profundamente dada la mejora ostensible en la remasterización hecha sobre el film. Todo el cine del gran Kurosawa merece la pena ser restaurado por su gran calidad para que permanezca de manera atemporal y sea disfrutado por las generaciones venideras.En cuanto a adquirir sus películas en formato blu Ray o DVD la remasterización es buena tanto en uno como en el otro, cómo he podido apreciar en su película Los 7 samuráis que adquirí en formato DVD también de contracorriente. La diferencia es apenas apreciable así que depende del bolsillo de cada uno. Entiendo que es suficiente el formato DVD en películas que se rodaron en blanco y negro.Respecto al film decir que es una muy buena película pero no llega a la calidad de obra maestra cómo Kagemusha o Ran en lo que respecta al Japón feudal. Hay planos espectaculares al final en el asalto al Castillo de la Araña o en las persecuciones a caballo bajo la lluvia que son míticas.Pero eso sí este film no puede faltar en la colección de amantes del gran Kurosawa por su gran calidad porque forma parte de la historia del cine universal como también lo es el cine de John Ford.Grande Kurosawa!!!!

Independientemente de su argumento y demas, del cual ya hay multitud de opiniones en Internet, e incluso muchas de ellas directamente redactadas por criticos de cine, diré al respecto que, lo que mas me ha gustado ha sido........., que haya salido en formato bluray "prensado"....., y mucho mas si tenemos en cuenta la baja cantidad de ediciones que se editan en nuestro querido pais...... Esto siempre me entristece, ya que el porcentaje de edición entre España y casi cualquier otro pais Europeo......., es realmente brutal. Ahí lo dejo.

The version being sold by Amazon UK, which is published by the British Film Institute, doesn't seem to be the one reviewed in every case. For example, there is no choice of English subtitles, which one reviewer mentions. The actual BFI one, although acceptable, looks as if it's taken from a 'dupe' print. The black and white photography is extremely important to this film, but some of the detail is lost. A blu-ray version taken from the original negative would reveal an enormous amount, I believe.That said, I agree with the majority of the reviewers that the film is a masterpiece; and to a Western viewer, the alien world which it shows adds to the fascination. The buildings, clothes, decor, mode of speech, even the way people sit and move, seem extraordinary to me - but that makes the film a more interesting experience than otherwise.

I've been a Kurosawa fan for some time, but had never seen Throne OF Blood before. I bought this expecting great things having read the previous reviews - however - I was surprised that no-one had mentioned how poor the sound quality was; there is a continual sound of eggs and bacon frying loudly in the background. I know enough about film restoration to know that cleaning up an old soundtrack is fairly straightforward with current technology, but I don't know if this poor sound is peculiar to the bfi edition which I bought. Many of the previous reviewers seem to have reviewied the US Criterion version which I assume must have better sound quality otherwise it would have been mentioned in the reviews. As for the movie - well it's great, slow, but then so is the Shakespeare play on which it is based, but none the worse for that. Four stars only though due to the shamefully noisy soundtrack.

A lot is written about Akira Kurosawa's movies on his influences on other famous films etc ... I will not impose upon anyone those ideas .. only to say ... I have seen repeatedly all of Kurosawa's Samurai films and have never had less than being greatly entertained and enthralled .. so forget the subtitles, forget the black & white .. sit back .. concentrate, and enjoy this cinematic classic, as all of his films are to some degree, and then wonder why you haven't seen them before.