Throne of Blood - Criterion Collection

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Summary: Kurosawa takes on Shakespeare and Macbeth
Review: I think the typically Japanese setting helped in creating suspense, it also made the killing of the king have a greater impact because treason was highly unlikely in Japan. The forest also provided a good setting for the meeting of the witch/evil spirit, because the density and humidity in the forest made it earier.

The plot changes by Kurosawa made it difficult to follow the connection between Macbeth and the Throne of Blood due to the fact that Kurosawa left out many important scenes, such as the sighting of the dagger in the air by Macbeth, and in place had extended scenes of MIfune and a co-actor riding around pointlessly throught the forest. Kurosawa also changed the plot so that Mifune was killed by his own men instead of by the opposing force. One adaptation that was fitting and had a good effect was the changing of the three witches to one evil spirit, this was a good choice because Japanese culture doesn't speak much of witches but more of evil spirits.

I think Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of Macbeth coulld have been better, for the fact that he did not portray the internal struggles that Macbeth had in the early part of the play. He also did not have the air of almost psychotic arrogance that Macbeth had, when his forces start abandoning him Mifune tries to stop them, where as Macbeth said that he did not need his troops. Isuzu Yamada's portrayal of Lady Macbeth was also relatively poor, although she still convinced "Macbeth" to kill the king she was not as forceful and commanding as Lady Macbeth, she was also too timid and did not reprimand Macbeth as Lady MAcbeth did.

Kurosawa could have also used slightly more violence to get the full impact of the story across, and to show how truly evil the killing of the king was. With regard to the end of the movie it would have been more effective to have the two armies go into battle and then have Mifune's troops abandon him in the middle of Battle and have the king of the opposing force and Mifune have a duel.

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Summary: Macbeth: The Samurai
Review: I am a student at Nagoya International School in Japan, and got an oppurtunity to write a film review for director Kurosawa Akira's "Throne of Blood." Here it is:

"Throne of Blood," an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" was done by Japan's most famous film director, Kurosawa Akira. He successfully took a play that took place in medieval Scotland and put it on screen with a setting of feudal Japan. Though the adaptations and plot were fairly similar to that of the actual play, Throne of Blood had its differences.
The basic characterization of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth by Kurosawa were the same, but I would say that they both had some exaggerations from the original. Kurosawa's Macbeth, Washizu, was more moody and had his feelings all out. He was also more animated, which I thought was represented most in the facial expressions of Macbeth in the last scene where he was being shot at by hundreds of soldiers. Kurosawa's Lady Macbeth, Asaji, was much more evil. Her very cold personality and emotionless ness made her much scarier than Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth. She is so emotionless and evil that it felt a little awkward when she went insane in the end. In Shakespeare's play, Lady Macbeth's true feelings inside herself, of feelings different from what she showed to others like Macbeth were being expressed through a soliloquy, so her going insane was reasonable, but it seemed that the emotionless character of Asaji had no reason to go mad. Though the characterizations did not perfectly follow the play, Kurosawa's characters definitely contributed to the attractiveness of the film.
I felt that the major plot change that Kurosawa made in his film was the fact that the Duncan character took throne by killing the previous Lord. The fact that Duncan killed the previous Lord to gain seat as Lord, and that Macbeth killed Duncan to gain his seat as Lord, makes us think of the cycle of Lord being killed by the next Lord. This represents how power is gained through killing. I felt that this slight alternation in plot creates a great difference in theme. Where Shakespeare portrays the flaws of individuals like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Kurosawa portrays the flaw of a society, or the corrupt human nature itself.
Overall, I was amazed at how well Kurosawa adapted this play to Japanese society. Even though Kurosawa faithfully followed the story by Shakespeare, there is no trace of anything that makes us feel that it came from the West, and was actually a stage play. I have actually never watched any of Kurosawa's other films but just by watching this film, I thought I was slightly able to feel the reason to why he is praised as the best Japanese film director ever.


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Summary: Of Shakespeare and Samurai: A Review of the Throne of Blood
Review: My name is Brandon and I am a student of Nagoya International School. Recently I watched the Throne of Blood in my pre-AP British Literature class. I found that the Japanese culture gave the story a very different feeling from the original Macbeth. For example it made the witch, or evil spirit, very fearsome and serious. This gave the movie some suspense the book didn't have. Some famous scenes, like Macbeth's soliloquy, were left out but were replaced with others, like Lady Macbeth's pregnancy, death and reappearance as a ghost. I liked how Macbeth's own soldiers killed him, but I missed the scene with Macbeth and Macduff in Act 5.
Macbeth's character was portrayed quite differently in my opinion. He was much stronger and courageous, showing more pride and power. This made Macbeth seem more like a real samurai. The only time he struggled with fear and guilt was when he saw Banquo's ghost. That is because in the Japanese culture ghosts were very real and resembled fear and death.
Although Lady Macbeth had fewer lines, she seemed corrupt from the very beginning. She didn't persuade Macbeth to kill the King, by telling him he was a coward, she just subtly nagged at him until he broke. Macbeth's weaknesses were revealed to the audience in this way. In the film Macbeth actually saw his wife go insane whereas in the play he chose to ignore it. This let Macbeth know that his corruption was even affecting his wife.
There was a significant more amount of violence in this film, but it fit the samurai impression that most of us have. Macbeth's killing of his servant allowed the audience to clearly see his anger and frustration.
The director of the Throne of Blood cleverly mixed the themes of Macbeth with the Japanese culture, allowing fans of Macbeth to experience the story in a whole new way. I recommend this movie for anyone who has enjoyed the tragedy of Macbeth either by book or by another film.


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Summary: Admirable, but not perfect.
Review: I'm Ryan Sheppard, from the Nagoya International School, and have recently examined the different and similar qualities of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.

Macbeth is not only one of Shakespeare's best plays, but one of the most well-known plays of all time. Since the cold, rainy day a few hundred years ago when Shakespeare added the finishing touch to his play, and sprinkled it with sand, the ingeniously writen work has been transformed into plays with a mirage of different tastes, flavors, and spices. Although all versions continue to intrigue audiences, there are some traits of the original which are often soiled by unique transformation. Akira Kurosawa's, "Throne of Blood" was an attempt to recreate Macbeth's sole plot, themes, and characterizations, which turned out to be well-done overall, but unfortunately deprived of Shakespear's quality in some areas.

The basic plot of Macbeth is mostly continuous throughout the "Throne of Blood." However there are a few minor additions or cancellations of scenes and details which you would expect to find in any book-based movie. At the beginning of the movie there were a few sequences when the Lord/King's messengers came to his fort notifying him of the fall of his forts. The dramatic series of news breaks from the messenger's was not apparent in the book, nor did it add value to the film. There were also instances of the troops getting a pep-talk from their Japanese Macbeth. Other additions varied, but who would expect a book-based movie to be exactly like the book?

The Japanese setting was quite an effective aspect of the film. Samurai forts fit Shakespeare's feel of armies and forts in the book. The samurai's system of forts ran quite parallel to the English system. Therefore the change made good sense, putting everything in a Japanese perspective. After living in Japan and traveling for several years, I would not say that the landscape I saw on the movie reflected that of the actual Japanese landscape. Regardless of this point, I felt the misty-wet landscape was rather effective when strengthening the dark, chilly and miserable feel of the story.

The aspect of the movie which struck me the most was the Japanese characterizations of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth talked with an evil, angry, serious, and almost threatening look on his face. Facial expression was monotonous, except for the rare laugh. Essentially, he had almost the same facial and vocal expression for different emotions-a tense, evil, angry, and aggressive look. Lady Macbeth, even more so, conveyed this sense of emptiness in her voice. When confronted by Macbeth regarding the issue of becoming King/Lord, she persisted that Macbeth should kill Duncan to achieve power of king if he was a real man. Her words are forceful, but her voice and facial expressions are almost nil. This lack of facial expression deprives the characters of excitement and life. However, later on in the movie, when Lady Macbeth assists in the murder of the lord/king and starts vigorously scrubbing the blood of her hands, and sobs with guilt. This is perhaps one of the most powerful scenes in the movie because the quiet, emotionless, calm Lady Macbeth the audience knows is now in an extreme emotional state.

Taken as a whole, Akira Kurosawa did a good job of transforming Macbeth into a Japanese setting. But having been deprived of some of Shakespeare's qualities as a result of this particular transformation, I do no admire this production as much as Shakespeare's original version. To all those who despise trashy modern movies like Scary Movie and Tomb Raider, but instead enjoy older quality work, like Casablanca, this film is for you!


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Summary: Kurosawa's Interpretation of Tragic Heroes
Review: Macbeth, a tragedy written by Shakespeare, was dramatically translated not only onto film from stage but also to a Japanese language, culture, and plot into this film, "Throne of Blood". Kurosawa Akira, one of Japan's most incredible directors, altered the details of the play to make the plot take place during the Edo period. There is a huge impact in the new creation of the tragic heroes, Washizu and Asaji, with the absorption of Japanese culture by world's famous story Macbeth. Although, enjoying to the Japanese eyes, this may not be a significant alteration to all Shakespeare lovers.

Kurosawa's interpretation of Lady Macbeth was very emotionless compared to Shakespeare's to adapt to the old Japanese culture. Without the passion or the cruelty that Lady Macbeth possessed, Asaji was still and quiet; yet she had the power to motivate her husband. This is ironic because the desperate desire of Lady Macbeth was the major blame of the tragedy; however, Kurosawa intentionally made her into a quiet woman. Without knowing the original story, it would be hard to blame Asaji for the responsibility for her husband's murder and deeds. Actually, Washizu seems most culpable for the cause of the whole tragedy because he couldn't control his desire and was unaware of the approaching danger.

Warriors were a symbol of pride and honesty during the Edo period in Japan, and this influenced Washizu to become more chivalrous than Macbeth. Washizu does lack his devoted and sincere attitude during the end; however, compared to Macbeth, he stayed loyal to the King and his friend for a longer time. Even when Asaji cried for their son to have the throne, Washizu kept his own idea to give his throne to Banquo's son to show him his appreciation and loyalty. This indicates that he still has kindness and humanness in his heart which Macbeth didn't have in the original play: he planned the murder of Banquo by himself, without his wife's advice or permission. Macbeth's cowardly character is not emphasized too much because of the Japanese custom, that men are strong willed, and especially if he is a warrior, he must be opinionated and brave.

In this film, "Throne of Blood", Japanese culture and plot influenced the characters greatly, by changing their unique trademarks, which benefited the story to adapt to the Edo period and seem vivid and friendly to the Japanese audience. However, this edition weakened the cruel tragedy for the antagonists that Shakespeare created and the bizarre twist that distinguished Macbeth from other ordinary tragic plots.


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Summary: Macbeth from a different perspective....
Review: I am a once again a student from Nagoya International School and was given the opportunity to observe and comment on the Japanese version of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Everyone enjoys a little variety, but variety is not always preferred of enjoyed. In my opinion, the variation that was made, recreating Macbeth into a Japanese version was not very favored. It was an effective choice for certain reasons I do believe; however, there were many disappointing points as well.
Having the Throne of Blood set in Japan was an effective choice. This is because of several reasons, one being the fact that Japanese castles, clothes, make-up, everything in the old times were eerie. This emphasized a daunting atmosphere, foreshadowing the evil to come further into the film. The evil spirit who represented the witch from original version of "Macbeth" was especially bloodcurdling as well as Lady Macbeth who was presented as if she were a character from a horror movie. The deep forests and the dim, candle lit rooms enhanced the mood of the film. Since olden Japan was the antithesis of America, it was an effective choice to present the film so that the audience could enjoy the story from a different perspective. The black and white was effective like the original version of Macbeth. It conveys a mysterious atmosphere, ideal to the concept of the story.
There were several plot changes that were identifiable. First of all, Lady Macbeth did not commit suicide. Maybe this was because the notion of committing suicide was too harsh and violent to the audience back then. Also, there were no murderers who were ordered to kill the character similar to Banquo and it seemed to be a slight loss of effect to not have had the scene in which Banquo was killed. Third thing I realized was that there really were no witches, but a lady who represented the evil spirit. From what I know, Japan does not really focus/talk about witches but believe in evil spirits and ghosts. Therefore, this change may have been some what of an adaptation made so that the film would be suitable to the Japanese audience.
In my opinion, the portrayal of Macbeth was unsatisfactory. He seemed too eager and boisterous at all times. I never got the impression that he was even once courageous, admired and strong. He yelled almost throughout the whole movie making it difficult for me to understand what he was saying and also, the yelling did not suit some of the scenes. However, he was perfect at portraying the frantic Macbeth towards the end of the film. The yelling then was appropriate.
The portrayal of Lady Macbeth was reasonable. She seemed too ethereal, not at all feminine, the way Lady Macbeth was in the American version of the film. Her make-up and movements, as well as the things she said quietly just made her look like she was haunting Macbeth throughout the whole film. Maybe though, as a Japanese woman, she did a decent job. This is because some Japanese women in those days were actually that silent. In my opinion, to make the film more interesting, I would have preferred more emotion from Lady Macbeth as well as more freedom in movement.
The violence in the film was too planned. Very typical Japanese violence, I must say. The acting from my point of view was very pitiable looking and unexciting. As a matter of fact, there was actually no violence at all! Only words of battles. There was no blood shed and very little action. The director and the actors as well should have made a better effort to make the violent scenes more realistic and effective, for we, the audience did not see any meaning in the violent scenes.
Overall, as I mentioned above, I found this Japanese version of Macbeth unsatisfactory. It was amusing to be able to enjoy the story through different characters as well as slight plot changes; however, I'd much rather prefer the American version over the Japanese version. It is not necessarily a film I recommend to people who expect a decent "movie" but I will recommend it to those who are interested in a different version of Macbeth.