Review of Throne of Blood (1957) by Chiara — 18 Feb 2008

Akira Kurosawa's other excellent adaptation of Shakespeare. Unlike Ran this earlier film remains very close to its source material with very little divergences from the Bard's play, and seems less personally important a statement and a film for Kurosawa.

Which is not to say this is not an ambitious film: it is a daring work of cinema that combines Western and Japanese theatre with the samurai genre, and remains amongst the director's better films.

Toshiro Mifune may be a bit of an overactor, but his approach to Macbeth is perfect for this film, as his frantic kineticism is put to good use in one of the most intense death scenes in cinematic history.

But the film's is most memorable for Isuzu Yamada who give a masterfully creepy and expressionless performance as the Lady Macbeth character. For me, Throne of Blood is not quite in the same class as Ran and Rashomon or even Seven Samurai, but it remains an important and worthy entry in the oeuvre of a very great director.