Review of Throne of Blood (1957) by Karlo M — 04 Jun 2009

Kurosawa takes on Shakespeare in this loose adaptation of Macbeth. As with most of his earlier films the scale is epic and is reinforced by some gorgeous cinematography (the 'trees' sequence near the end is something just worth watching on its own).

But Kurosawa fails to paint a fully rendered portrait of a man at the throes of insanity. The dynamic between Taketori (Mifune) and his wife lacks any sort of conviction. The strength of Shakespeares's play lies in the relationship between these two characters, and especially in the methods which Lady Macbeth employs in order to toy around with her husband's fragile psyche.

Lady Asaji on the other hand is poorly developed. Okay, so we understand that she, like her husband, is hungry for power but it is done so superficially that it fails to make any emotional impact. What we get in the end is a nagging wife without any motives and an unsympathetic push-over husband whose tragedy is so underscored that you end up shrugging your shoulders and barely refraining yourself from saying "duhh!".

Other than its ancient Japanese-ism, there is hardly any new perspective that Kurosawa's adaptation has to offer.