Throne Of Blood

Year: 1957

Grade: B

Country: Japan

Director: Kurosawa

Review

probably the least interesting and entertaining of all the kurosawa films i’ve seen. i think that a lot of this can be blamed on the source material (macbeth) written by some guy named shakespeare. i liked ran, which is an adaptation of king lear, but this one didn’t really do it for me. it’s a well made movie, of course, but it didn’t have the heart that all of his other films have had. sure it addresses/questions fate, existentialism, greed, guilt, and all sorts of other basic human emotions and issues, but, to me, there is very little humanity in the story. i almost prefer the comic interpretation that “scotland, pa” took on macbeth. it’s a very good looking film and the dvd transfer is one of the better from this era of kurosawa that i’ve seen. many of the shots are composed like portraits which fits the subject matter and themes well. respectable, but not one of the visionary human biopics i’m used to from kurosawa.