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By PAUL BRENNER
Akira Kurosawa's 1957
reworking of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" links the
Kurosawa films of the past (where at least there
is a glimmer of hope for mankind) with the
nihilistic post-"Throne of Blood" films,
culminating with the dark depths of another
Kurosawa Shakespearean adaptation -- "Ran." How
else would you place a film containing dialogue
like, "In this degenerate age, one must kill so as
not to be killed."
In "Throne of Blood," Macbeth becomes the warrior
Washizu (in a charismatic performance by Toshiro
Mifune), who with his scheming wife Asaji (the
great actress Isuzu Yamada), plot the savage
murders of his friend and his king to seize power
in war-torn 13th century Japan. Kurosawa also
anticipates his later films in the tight formal
structure of "Throne of Blood," not only are the
compositions and stylistic tone of the film
forecasting doom, but so is the tightly-wound,
circular narrative. And as with most Kurosawa
films, the great acting of Mifune and Yamada are
often dwarfed by Kurosawa's main actor, the
ambient atmosphere (clouds, wind, rain), which
comments upon the Noh types in the film and all of
their doomed maneuverings. Perhaps the first
"thinking man's epic," "Throne of Blood" balances
elaborately staged battle scenes and action with
the tortured mechanizations of the characters'
psyches. Perhaps the most bravura moment in the
film is also one of the smallest -- the quiet
rustling of the silk of Asaji's clothing as she
disappears into the blackness of a doorway to get
poisoned sake to knockout the king's guards so her
husband can cold-bloodedly murder the king.
This Criterion Collection release includes a few
extras: an essay by Kurosawa scholar Stephen
Prince, two subtitle translations (one by Linda
Hoaglund and another by Donald Richie), the
original theatrical trailer, and a delightfully
unpretentious commentary track by Michael Jeck. |
