Set in feudal Japan, during the 'Sengoku Jidai' civil war era of 1477, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. Director Akira Kurosawa's radically retelling of author William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' was wonderful. 'Throne of Blood' (Kumonosu Jō, "Spider Web Castle"), has an intense & spooky atmosphere with great emotional tragic haunting characters. Fame Japanese actor, Toshiro Mifune stars as General Washizu, a Japanese warlord whom receives a prophecy from a strange spirit who foretells his future, in which he was consumed by ambition and spurred to action by greed, murders his lord and takes the throne for himself, only to find out, that he has gone mad, with power. Without spoiling the movie, too much, 'Throne of Blood' is a far more effective haunting story compared to most of the earlier English Macbeth films, not only because it follows many of Aristotle's rules of tragedy, but also, it made great use of the natural looking outside locations, in which the plays, live on, rather than being limited in a fake-looking stage studio. Akira Kurosawa is known for his use of weather, and it somewhat shows here, with all the scenes, filmed in the rainfall, as well, in the fog. It's amazing, that they were, even able to get, pretty good shots, out of it; seeing how they were filming in the harsh volcanic slopes of Mount Fuji & in the creepy forest of Aokigahara AKA the suicide forest. It's also cool to hear that Kurosawa's film crew, brutally, built a real façade castle for this film in this location, giving the film, a feel of isolation. As a result, the film has a definite coldness; as it gives the audience chills, noticing the castle, come out of the fog. Another thing, this movie does so well, is mixing Shakespeare's tale with that of old Japanese folklore. It really does give it, a very unique kinda frightening feel. A good example of this, is how Kurosawa made the three witches or fates, into a Yama-uba, old demonic hag with cannibalistic tendencies. Another is how it relate to real-life history. Indeed, the 'Sengoku Jidai' era was marked by internecine conflicts among rival Japanese clans, due to the absence of a central political power during the Onin War (1467 to 1477). It wasn't until Tokugawa shogunate took power that the kind of treachery, prevarication, and murder that Kurosawa dramatizes in 'Throne of Blood' has ended. I kinda like the ending of this film, showing that the struggle for leadership in the end, leads those, who seek power, closer to the grave. It's way different than the whole political conservatism idea of good vs evil of the original play. Since the Macduff subplot was left out in this version, it lead to somewhat way different, but more thematic end for the Macbeth figure with the shots of walking trees. For a Kurosawa film, the violence is surprising, pretty tame, compare to his other earlier works like 1950's 'Rashomon' & 1954's 'Seven Samurais'. A lot of the harsher violent moments, were mention, after the face, done, off-screen, or mention, through texts in some really badly edited moments. The only thing, I can say, was really intense was the famous arrow scene near the end of the film. It was surprising, done with real arrows. No wonder, why Toshirô Mifune looks like, he was crapping his pants. I like how Kurosawa was able to get Mifune to have a facial express of real-life fear. His acting, throughout, this film, was great, even if he sounds, a bit, over the top angry at times. While, Mifune might had been a little bit overdramatic, the actress, Isuzu Yamada that played his wife, Lady Asaji was not. She was very limited with her facial expressions, lines, and movement in this film. I know, a lot of people like her Noh-like mime performance, here, but I found it, to be, not as villainous as other versions. She barely moves or blinks during the entire first half of the film, and always takes a polite tone with her husband. I guess, it's to show that she can be sinister, without speaking much, but I found her, acting to be too robotic and unhuman to be taken seriously. Her repetitive comments wouldn't convince me, to commit murder and that's the bad thing, to have in a movie, because it's the plot-point that drives the film, forwards. Because of that, this movie really drags at points, during pacing. Even some of the supporting cast members, such as those by Akira Kubo and Takashi Shimura seem very underdeveloped. Yet, I do like the idea of all the actors in the film, being caked with make-up that looks like Noh-looking spiritual masks. I just wish, they add, this much, effect to the dead-lord ghost sequence, during the middle of the film. Another thing, the Japanese music by composer Masaru Sato that went along with this movie was ear-bleeding noise. I really couldn't stay that high pitch flute sound at all. It was really distracting me from the rest of the film, as I had to cover my ears, whenever it came on. It really did ruin parts of the film for me. Yet, the Japanese with English subtitles does not. It was a lot easily to understand this film with the Japanese with English subtitles, than the Old Shakespearian English language, playing on its own. Overall: As good as the aesthetics and philosophy are, in the film. I just wish, some parts of the film like the psychology would be better. Still, I have to say, I kinda enjoyed this film. It was awe inspiring, just need a little more work.
