Throne of Blood (1957)
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
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This 1957 masterpiece is one of the best films of one of the best years for film, if you don't know where to start with the master Kurosawa, Throne of Blood is the my recomendation. Also, If you're like me, was never much interest in Shakespeare, this picture is also a great starting point, it will make you hungry for more movies based on Shakespeare, also the most important, it will make you wanting to read it.
Kurosawa's take on Macbeth, truly magnificent! From the ominous premonition in the Cobweb forest till the unforgettable ending, this film has such a great and natural atmosphere that it feels like this story could not take place anywhere else. Mifune is absolutely great in this. Probably my favorite film from Kurosawa!
My favourite Macbeth cinema adaptation, Akira Kurosawa takes an already spooky play and places it in a haunted feudal period Japan, complete with evil spirits and forests of death. Not to mention the most foreboding and eerie-looking mist you'll ever see on screen.The old Japanese obsessions of fate and evil spirits result in a more convincing story than witches and kings could have in this environment, yet it still feels very loyal to the original story.'Throne of Blood' is a minimalist and bleak film: all extraneous characters from the main plot in the play are excised, creating a tight and focused work; the film seems shorter than its 110 minutes.The brilliant Toshiro Mifune's ultimate demise to a rainfall of arrows is a wonderfully insane performance, worthy of Klaus Kinski at his peak.
Throne of Blood is one of my favorite Kurosawa movies, it described the ambition, which you can kill your family and your friends because of your profit.The point that I don't like about Throne of Blood is Toshiro Mifune's acting. If the first Akira Kurosawa you saw is Seven Samurai, you can understand what I mean. Because Mifune's acting in this movie isn't different from Seven Samurai, so I felt normal. Why Kurosawa always used the old cast and old acting? That is the reason that Seven Samurai is the only film I gave full stars.I think Ran (1985), which is another Kurosawa movie, is better than this film and you could call it the "remake" of this film after you saw it.