Throne of Blood

“After finishing Rashomon [in 1950] I wanted to do something with Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but just about that time the Orson Welles version was announced, so I postponed mine” (Akira Kurosawa). Released in 1957, Kurosawa’s rousing, ravishing take on the Bard’s great tragedy ranks as one of the director’s finest works, and one of cinema’s great Shakespeare adaptations; it was also said to be T.S. Eliot’s favourite film. Transposing the action to medieval Japan, featuring Toshiro Mifune in the Macbeth role as the samurai general Washizu, shrouded in spooky mist and exploding in kinetic violence, Throne of Blood combines the conventions of traditional Noh theatre with the most dynamic modern cinematic techniques, and makes stunning use of glorious costumes, décor and pageantry. Isuzu Yamada, as Washizu’s wife Asaji, is a memorably chilling Lady Macbeth. The result is “Kabuki Macbeth, and like nothing you’ve ever seen. A truly remarkable film combining beauty and terror to produce a mood of haunting power . . . This is filmmaking with risk and greatness in its blood” (James Monaco). “Kurosawa’s best period film (jidai-geki), surpassing even Rashomon and Seven Samurai” (Georges Sadoul). B&W, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 110 mins.