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Throne
of Blood
"I'll
take Willy's version any day."
- Numskull
Throne of
Blood (1957)
AKA: Spider's
Web Castle
Director:
Akira Kurosawa
Writer:
Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni (Based
on the play "MacBeth" by William Shakespeare)
Producer:
Akira Kurosawa, Sojiro Motoki
Cast: Toshiro
Mifune, Isuza Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Minoru
Chiaki, Takamaru Sasaki
Running
Time: 109 min.
Plot:
Shakespeare's "MacBeth" gets transplanted to medieval Japan and
little is lost in the transition; the story follows a warrior's rise to
power and subsequent fall in fulfillment of a mysterious spirit's predictions.
Availability:
This title is available at HKflix.com
Reviews
MAIROSU'S
REVIEW: Guess what dear readers if there are any, it's a fortification
doubleheader !
First, I saw Hidden Fortress today, the film which allegedly inspired George
Lucas to make Star Wars (turns out it just inspired some moments of Star
Wars rather than the whole sextalogy), an adventure story of two petty
goons who get involved into a high-profile rescue operation. The two smalltime
profiteurs, Tahei and Matakishi, are just freshly out of recent war campaign
in which they tried to earn some money but wound up with zilch and eventually
in captivity. They manage to flee during a fully-fledged slave rebellion,
and then stumble upon a few gold sticks in the mountains which spark their
enthousiasm. Turns out, that gold is part of a bigger gold shipment, the
one guarded by a guy who dubs himself general Makabe Rokurota (Mifune,
who else), who also has another task - that one, to escort the princess
of the Akizuki clan (Misa Uehara) to a safe territory over the border.
Tahei and Matakishi accept to assist them, a decision obviously influenced
by all that gold, and off they go to another 100 or so minutes of high
adventure.
Was it really high adventure ? Well, no. Although the pace is a bit faster
than the usual Kurosawa samurai film, there is still not much action here
happening to satisfy a modern action fan. But there's eye candy and expert
direction aplenty. This was Kurosawa's first film which was shot in widescreen
aspect, and he makes the best of it by fully utilising the wonderful scenery
into this picture. Mountains, forests, medieval encampments and plains
all bring this film to a better level - it's amazing how a Kurosawa black
and white film still looks much richer in detail than about 90% of coloured
CGI crapola nowadays. And even though the action scenes are only here and
there, when they happen they really happen - the horseback chase between
Rokurota and some opposition soldiers a real standout. Also, it's worth
noting that this film is somewhat low on social references and commentary
- as the DVD notes on the BFI disc mention, this is the closest Kurosawa
came to chanbara genre in his period pieces. Probably because he
knew this was his last Toho contract film, so he wanted to take a stab
at something new I'm guessing.
As for the Star Wars references, well, Tahei and Matakishi are a somewhat
loose inspiration for C3PO and R2D2, and the first fifteen minutes of film
have been conveniently used for the Tatooine sequences after the two likable
droids crash land. Also, Lucas himself mentions in an interview that the
fact that the story was told from the view of two less important characters
was the main thing which inspired him, which is well visible.
And oh, that last shot has been used in Phantom Menace methinks. Well,
all things accounted for, this film did its best to bore me and yet I walked
out (well, left the sofa actually) somewhat satisfied. Even though it lasted
whopping 135 minutes, a big no-no in my books.
The other castle in this entry is the one of the spider's web, the one
featuring in Throne of Blood. Now, I liked this film a dash better than
Hidden Fortress for some reason, which is odd as I usually favour action
over drama. But Throne was good, real good. Anyway, this film is Kurosawa's
vision of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Long story short, two noble warriors -
who are, much to my surprise, played by Mifune & Shimura - are back
from a triumphant battle in which they put down some rebels, and on their
way back to their lord's castle they run into a ghost in the middle of
a forest during a thunderstorm. The ghost predicts that Washizu (Mifune)
will soon rule one castle, and that he will also become the high lord soon,
but that his reign will be brief and ended by Odagura's (Shimura) son.
They both disband this as something unimportant, but soon, Washizu gets
his castle and the plot begins - Washizu is soon egged on by his wife to
murder the lord and frame someone else, and grab all the power for himself.
Washizu obliges, then later even kills Odagura to eliminate competition,
but Odagura's son is obviously not happy and wants revenge. Washizu, worried
that he might fail, visits the forest spirit once more, who grinningly
informs him that he won't lose unless the "spider bush" (the
forest, as subbed by some inept Hong Kong translator) starts moving towards
him.
Convinced that there are no such things as moving bushes, Washizu reassures
his army that the victory is theirs. Mood is great, until next morning...someone
detects that forest is heading into castle's way ! How the hell did that
happen you ask ? Why, the cunning opposition army disguised itself under
branches and leaves and started their move to the castle. Unable to quell
his own troops and dispell this illusion, Washizu is treated to a salvo
of arrows which nail him to the wall of his own commander's watchpost (a
truly memorable scene) - and so this story ends.
I obviously shortchanged the role of Washizu's wife, who is masterfully
played by Isuzu Yamada. Pauline Kael mentioned in her review that there
was never a better lady MacBeth, and I'm inclined to agree here (I'll of
course casually forget I never saw any other MacBeth adaptation) - her
pale white face is pure evil, and the scene in which she washes her hands
of blood in the end is downright creepy. Creepy, actually, is the tone
of this film - from the great haunting score with choir singing to the
visually stunning scenes in the "spider bush" during thunderstorm
and generally gorgeous landscape (as usual), the film just oozes some uneasiness
throughout. And there's again Mifune excelling as the medieval tough guy,
but of totally another mould than the jovial characters of Sanjuro and
Makabe Rokurota - lord Washizu is one evil, power-hungry loon, and his
descent into madness is a triumph of Mifune's acting ability.
And man, I can't believe I forgot to mention how great of a score was the
one for Yojimbo. Man, 'twas awesome, and then some. But, yeah, the grades
for today :
MAIROSU'S RATING: 8.75/10
NUMSKULL'S
REVIEW: Throne of Blood, one of Kurosawa's earlier films, is a rendition
of MacBeth, one of Shakespeare's later plays. Certainly it's solid and
enjoyable, but I was unable to shake off the feeling of the whole thing
being...unnecessary. That's a rather unfair thing to say, since no piece
of entertainment is "necessary" in the sense that life would
be impossible or unbearable without it, but this film seemed too content
to coast by on the richness of its source material...changing the setting
and replacing the iconic trio of cackling hags with a singing ghost in
the forest, but not adding anything particularly noteworthy...and for that
I am given cause to wonder why it is considered such a classic. Toshiro
Mifune's performance as Taketori Washizu is laudable, as is Isuzu Yamada's
portrayal of Washizu's utterly ruthless wife Asaji. The nightmarish death
scene near the end is also a highlight. Alas, the abundance of redundant
shots (how the fuck many times do we need to see Washizu and Miki riding
in circles?) and inconsistent pacing made the film, for me, a somewhat
lackluster experience.
I'll take Willy's
version any day.
NUMSKULL'S
RATING: 6/10
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