| Before Akira
Kurosawa adapted William Shakespeare’s
King Lear into one of Japan’s most
renowned productions, Kurosawa first attempted
to create his own version of the famous playwright’s
Macbeth. So how does the adaptation fare?
As expected, Kurosawa does incredibly well with
what he originally described as merely an "experiment,"
crafting another brilliant movie to his ever growing
resume of greats. In fact, the movie really excels
across all levels, creating a magnificent story
and characters from the age old classic, while
supporting that material with great performances
and good production values.
In terms of the plot, the movie
is faithful to the original Macbeth story
to a degree, as Kurosawa alters the setting to
feudal Japan while changing some plot devices
and characters, although the general result tends
to be the same. The movie starts out with generals
Taketori Washizu and Yoshiaki Miki engaged in
a fierce battle, for which the outcome is uncertain
and starting to look bleak. Miraculously, Washizu
and Miki are victorious and are summoned by their
Lord due to their feat. Unfortunately, the pair
gets lost on their way to the castle in the deep
reaches of the “Spider’s Web”
forest. By fate, the two encounter a spirit in
the guise of an old woman, who predicts that Washizu
will one day take command of the castle while
Miki’s son will be the successor to the
throne. With the prophecy in mind, the pair makes
their way through the forest and finally reaches
the castle of their Lord. Upon arrival, the two
are quickly promoted, causing them to wonder if
perhaps the Spirit’s prophecy was true.
Washizu’s wife, Asaji, believes that her
husband is in fact destined for such a position,
as she encourages him to take the throne and secure
it for their own, yet unborn, child… even
if it means killing the Lord, Miki and his son.
The story is noticeably “darker
in tone” then Kurosawa’s movies at
this time, seeming to have more in contrast with
his later day pictures such as Kagemusha
(1980) where happy endings were pretty unlikely.
Lending itself to this bleaker feeling is Toshiro
Mifune, who plays a loathsome character whose
fall into madness is slowly categorized through
out the film. This role is a change of pace for
Mifune, who tends to play the hero in his roles.
Kurosawa handles this character with a lot of
finesse in the movie though, slowly developing
his eventual corruption. This part of the story
is often hailed too as being an improvement over
Shakespeare’s original work, as this process
is made more gradual by adding in elements like
the fact that his Lord had actually killed his
predecessor to take the throne, in a sense making
that betrayal seem less vile. Asaji’s pregnancy,
causing a conflict with the prophecy that Miki’s
son will be the successor to the throne, also
does well to create turmoil and motivation to
the multilayered character. The ending result
is no less despicable than the original Macbeth,
of course, but this better developing of the character
definitely gives the audience more insight and
places more emotion behind his fall from grace.
This also leads to Washizu’s
wife Asaji, played hauntingly by Isuzu Yamada
who is arguably Japan’s finest actress.
While her counterpart in Macbeth was
much more reserved, Asaji is calculating and very
ambitious, as she is eager to bask in the glory
held in the spirit’s vision. Her character
is vile to the core here, plotting the eventual
murder of those in her husband’s way; in
a lot of ways, Asaji is the perfect politician,
as she gracefully manipulates her husband to achieve
their own perceived gain. Yamada in the part is
simply brilliant as well, as she is chilling when
she needs to be and superficial when scenes require
her to be courteous to those she might not care
for.
As expected, the movie is also
helped along by some extraordinary production
values, as the sets are often stunning while Asakazu
Nakai’s cinematography is never short of
amazing. Unfortunately, the movie does also has
two lesser points in this regard. The first is
with Kurosawa’s editing, as the pacing feels
slow in parts, such as the opening scene with
the Great Lord that seems to drag a little. The
other is newcomer Masaru
Sato and his soundtrack for the movie. Now
to be fair, this was Sato’s first full fledged
score for one of Kurosawa’s films after
the tragic death of his mentor, Fumio
Hayasaka, two years prior. To his credit,
there aren’t any unpleasant cues here, yet
the score is still undoubtedly forgettable as
Sato is still coming into his own and seems kind
of out of place to score this mostly dark film.
Thankfully, the composer would do a much better
job the following year on the director’s
The
Hidden Fortress (1958), whose more heroic
theme is much better suited to Sato’s work
as well.
Overall, The Throne of Blood
is another brilliant production from Japan’s
greatest director. For many, this type of film
could be considered a career high, yet for Kurosawa
it’s just one of his many excellent movies.
|
(4.5/5)