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Throne of Blood - Criterion Collection

Throne of Blood - Criterion Collection

List Price: $39.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Throne of Blood
Review: A very short review...
This film is very beautifully and affectively done.
The last scene with the moving trees and many arrows were very convincing, makes me kind of wonder how it was done so well such a long time ago.
Toshiro Mifune acts excellently (like usual..) and plays Washizu (Macbeth..) very convincingly. His acting is very instinctive, human and real. In my point of view, that's the best way an actor/actress can act.

Spoilers contained here:

Personally, I prefer the ending provided Kurosawa had instead of Shakespeare's because it seemed that since after Washizu/Macbeth had assassins kill Miki/Banquo, he kept having other people kill others, being killed by the arrows of normal soldiers instead of being slayed by Macduff/(forgot the name of the character in Throne of Blood who is basically Macduff) seems to be a more fitting/deserving ending to Washizu/Macbeth.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another great movie by Kurosawa
Review: good.buy.watch.keep.watch again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic Samurai Classic
Review: This is another wonderful film by Akira Kurosawa. We must remember that this film is an adaptation of Shakesphere's MacBeth, not a literal translation. Kurosawa was primarily interested in the general plot of MacBeth and adapted that to the classic Japanese Noh style of theater. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend a comparison for any purpose other than as a purely entertaining one. This isn't Shakesphere, this is Kurosawa (but borrowing a basic storyline from Shakesphere because it happens to be good)!

This is also one of Aikra Kurosawa's most experimental films, and in this reviewer's opinion, is a very successful experiment indeed! The elements work, not just for a Japanese audience familiar to Noh, but to anyone from any culture of any age. This is also a fairly accesible movie for fans of all ages. The violence is theatric and underdone, and there really is no strong sexual content or situations, and like all great stories, this one also has a moral lesson at the end.

Coming off the huge International success of "Seven Samurai", Akira Kurosawa was given a huge budget and obviously felt the urge and had creative the freedom to experiment with style to a large degree, and that is apprarent in this movie.

The DVD transfer is great - very little dust & scratches and the picture is a pure black & white 1.33:1 fullscreen aspect ratio. There is also a brilliant commentary track by a Japanese film expert that gives wonderful insight into this fascinating and dark film. Criterion has done an excellent job yet again!
I could not recommend this brilliant classic more. Worth every penny.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: KUROSAWA VISUALIZES SHAKESPEARE'S WORDS
Review: If there was ever a storyline that revolved around naked ambition, this is it. THRONE OF BLOOD is commonly referred to as Akira Kurosawa's masterful adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It is much more than that. And less. Although the heart of the plot remains, Shakespeare's words are gone. In their place are extraordinary images that are the visual equivalent to Shakespeare's expressions. And the setting has been transposed to 16th century feudal Japan. Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Washizu, the samurai who betrays his friend and in exchange for nobility. Thousands of pages have been written about Throne of Blood and no condensed review can do justice to this majestic and intense film. It simply must be experienced. Highest recommendation.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jap Macbeth
Review: I saw this movie "Throne of blood" during the class and I really enjoyed it. I think Akira Kurosawa was able to show the main point of Macbeth by using Japanese style movie. Still, there was some part where it was little different from actual Shakespear's Macbeth, such as, the ending, or the climax. Washizu was killed by his own men. I think this ending showed Kurosawas uniqueness in significant way.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good stuff
Review: Watching movie during class has been always my favorite. Since i had read Macbeth quite numerous and watched several different style of video of it during the class last year long, it came easy for me to understand the Japanese Macbeth also.
Written by Shakespear, and filmed by Japanese, was really interesting.
First of all I really liked the Title of it; Throne of blood, it had well described the image of the tragic hero. Washizu had well expressed the feelings of the strong ambitious character.
Language in the film was in Japanese, old type of Japanese, hard to understand, but still it had well translated. It must be hard to translate Shakespears' difficult language into Japanese, but it had well done, and also they transcend the cultural gap.
oh, my favorite scene was when Washizu got the arrow stuck on his neck.^^

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: macbeth the tragic hero?
Review: Watching movie during class, has been always my favorite. Since i had read Macbeth quite numerous time and watched several different style of video of it during the class last year long, it came easy for me to understand the Japanese Macbeth also.
Written by Shakespear, and filmed by Japanese, was really interesting.
First of all I really liked the Title of it;Throne of blood, it had well decribed the image of the tagic hero. Washizu had well expressed the feelings of the stong ambitious charater.
Language in the film was in Japanese, old type of Japanese, hard to understand, but still it had well translated. It must be hard to translate shakespears' difficult language into Japanese, but it had well done, and also they transcend the cultural gap.
oh, my favorite scene was when Washizu got the arrow stuck on his neck.^^

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favolite director
Review: This is one of the many movies by Kurosawa Akira which I have seen, and I really enjoyed it. By this movie, I realized the universality of Shakespear's play along with Kurosawa's high ability of interpreting the story. The story seemed to follow the original story, Macbeth, well until the end. The ending part of this movie illustrates the tragedy stronger than Macbeth, which gave me surprise. The influence of the woman was also a big theme in the story. There are some long sequence with high tention but not much action. Many discussions can be done about these parts, but I generally like the tense mood. Kurosawa has been my favolite director, and now I am more confident in this idea after seening this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: William Kurosawa
Review: I was interested in the film "Throne of Blood" because it was directed by Kurosawa, the film making Legend of Japan. I've seen some of Kurosawa's work and I wanted to know how he would screen Macbeth in Japanese style. It was a good thing that Kurosawa didn't change the story line too much. As always, his screen shots were very stylish. I liked the climax, how Washizu was killed by his own men. It added more tragedy in to it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kurosawa meets Shakespeare
Review: Throne of Blood is Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth has always been my favorite Shakespeare play (of the ones I've read) and I loved Roman Polanski's film version. Kurosawa's film is basically the same story, but set during the samurai era circa 16th century Japan. The legendary Toshiro Mifune plays the Macbeth character, Washizu, an ambitious warrior who is convinced by his wife to murder his lord, thereby taking command in the lord's place. Well, if you've read Macbeth then you know the story.

There have been straight-forward adaptations of the play, such as Orson Welles' and Roman Polanski's, but Kurosawa's really gives the story a different feel with its new setting. There's not a whole lot of samurai action here to be found, it's more about the drama, really. The famous finale, however, featuring the flurry of arrows is positively stunning. One of the most memorable moments from any Kurosawa film I've seen.

Throne of Blood may be Kurosawa's eeriest film. It has a very creepy atmosphere throughout especially the scenes in the forest and the great scene where Washizu sees the ghost of Miki. It's a very atmospheric film, filled with images of fog moving through the trees, a giant army massing outside the castle, and the finale featuring the forest moving toward the castle as Washizu realizes that he's doomed. It's a great film and a must see for Kurosawa fans.


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