Throne of Blood / Kumonosu jô

Dir: Akira Kurosawa (Rashômon, Seven Samurai / Shichinin no samurai, Madadayo / Not Yet, Yojimbo)
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo
Japan, 1957

Seen: May 29, 2007 thanks to the Toronto Public Library

Reason to see: I adored Rashômon and wanted to see more of Kurosawa's work!

Reason to review: As a part of the the Akira Kurosawa blog-a-thon!

When I was picking what to see next of Kurosawa's, this jumped off the list of possibilities as it is a version of Macbeth. It's so weird to say or type Macbeth, after years working in a theatre I'm so accustomed to saying 'The Scotish Play'. Therefore being familiar with the story I was surpized that I found the film quite hard to follow in terms of plot, roles and motivations. I did enjoy the striking visuals and strong physicality of the characters. It also brings up some interesting questions such as is it better to know or to not know? Throw that together with a lot of blood, and you have just that: The Throne of Blood.

Shannon's Overall View:
It was not what I expected
I'd likely not watch it again
It's a hard one to put a recommendation too, I would say for those interested in stories set in alternate historical settings

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© Shannon Ridler, 2007