DVD Alert: 'Throne of Blood'

Japan's great actor, Toshiro Mifume, at work. Watch the trailer: http://videodetective.com/TitleDetails.aspx?publishedid=332&st=Throne%20Of%20Blood%20(1957)


I treated myself to another Criterion DVD. I mentioned that I wanted Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood so here it is and here's Criterion's description: 'One of the most celebrated screen adaptations of Shakespeare into film, Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood reimagines Macbeth in feudal Japan. Starring Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune and the legendary Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife, the film tells of a valiant warrior’s savage rise to power and his ignominious fall. With Throne of Blood, Kurosawa fuses one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies with the formal elements of Japanese Noh theater to make a Macbeth that is all his own—a classic tale of ambition and duplicity set against a ghostly landscape of fog and inescapable doom.'
And it's more than that. Try an atmospheric, spooky time trip into medieval Japan. If you know Shakespeare's original tragedy you can easily follow the story. If not, the self-explanatory subtitles will guide you and won't bother those viewers who want a dubbed soundtrack. You can match the printed words to the tone of their voices and facial expressions to comprehend their message. It's really the eerie visuals that matter here. Lots of battle scenes and bloodshed which are quite effective in black & white.
Passionate performances will stick in your mind especially Yamada as Mifume's cool, calculating wife who slowly and quietly spurs her hotheaded, manipulated husband (they are a study in contrasts) on to catastrophe. And wait until you see the Witch whose predictions set the plot in motion. Her appearance and leaving with startle you. Facial expressions appear exaggerated to resemble masks in Noh drama.
The audio commentary was very good as you expect from Criterion. Like Kurosawa's Ran, his reworking of Shakespeare's King Lear, these films aren't just literary adaptations. They are fully realized works of art.