Review of Throne of Blood (1957) by Daniel B — 07 Jun 2009

I wasn't particularly impressed with this effort from Kurosawa, but that's because he's set the bar so consistently high. Maybe it's because it was almost too literal of a re-working of Shakespeare, but I didn't feel much of Kurosawa like I usually do.

This isn't to say the film is bad, because it's not. It's actually really good, just not Kurosawa's usual skill. I actually have come to realize that I prefer his modern settings rather than his feudal Japan settings.

Anyways, Toshiro Mifune turns in a good, if a bit overacted performance (which is fine since he was supposed to be imitating Noh theater) and I have to say that I found the scenes with the forest spirit very engaging.

Definitely worth a watch if you are into both Shakespeare and Kurosawa.