Post by petrolino on Dec 2, 2017 1:15:30 GMT
'Throne Of Blood' is filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's radical reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's 17th century play 'Macbeth'. Medieval Scotland is swapped for feudal Japan, perhaps some time at the beginning of the 17th century, during the death throes of the violent Sengoku period when war raged aplenty.
The film opens to the atonal strains of a shakuhachi, a bamboo flute played by the monks of Fuke Zen. Kurosawa is soon setting the stage for a technical experiment in symmetry that's hard, blunt and aggressive as warriors Washizu Taketoki (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki Yoshiaki (Minoru Chiaki) embark on a journey together. In the Spider's Forest, or Cobweb Forest, the weather worsens dramatically. They come across The Spirit Of The Web (Chieko Naniwa) who prophecises their entwined futures. They enter the heavy mists of the wetlands where an eternal shroud is brought to weigh heavily upon their shoulders.
Kurosawa and regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai illuminate a series of tableu vivant worthy of Tod Browning as they bring to being still-life women painted in the noh tradition whose slow, sinister movements secure the story's chilly spine. Insidious lover Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) floats around like an upright mermaid, mesmerising angry dog Washizu with her mysterious tail. The dense imagery in 'Throne Of Blood' utilises high-contrast black and white photography to separate the insane from the supernatural.
'Throne Of Blood' was recalled by Kurosawa as being a difficult production due to its technical demands and set-building. Some of the action is shot on location and some parts are staged inside a studio in Tokyo, Japan. It serves as a thrilling example of the power of Shakespearian tragedy on film, as seen through the lens of one of cinema's great artists.
"Akira Kurosawa was the director who first brought international attention to Japanese cinema. Hugely influenced by the Hollywood films of John Ford, as well as by Shakespeare, he made films about characters and situations that audiences in the West easily recognized."
- Richard Lawler, The Culture Trip
- Richard Lawler, The Culture Trip
'As part of programming for the exhibition Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West, we delve into the work of Akira Kurosawa, recognized in the West as Japan's most influential filmmaker. As with abstract expressionism, Western fascination with Eastern aesthetics can be seen in cinema—epitomized by the work of Kurosawa and his impact on Hollywood. Kurosawa developed a unique approach to image-making all his own, which then inspired the Western imagination starting from the early 1940s until the 1990s. Enjoy 25 films that reveal the breadth and depth of Kurosawa’s legacy ...'
- The Honolulu Museum Of Art launches an Akira Kurosawa Retrospective
Toshiro Mifune & Akira Kurosawa
The film opens to the atonal strains of a shakuhachi, a bamboo flute played by the monks of Fuke Zen. Kurosawa is soon setting the stage for a technical experiment in symmetry that's hard, blunt and aggressive as warriors Washizu Taketoki (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki Yoshiaki (Minoru Chiaki) embark on a journey together. In the Spider's Forest, or Cobweb Forest, the weather worsens dramatically. They come across The Spirit Of The Web (Chieko Naniwa) who prophecises their entwined futures. They enter the heavy mists of the wetlands where an eternal shroud is brought to weigh heavily upon their shoulders.
Throne Of Blood
'Ghost In The Shell' - Kenji Kawai
Kurosawa and regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai illuminate a series of tableu vivant worthy of Tod Browning as they bring to being still-life women painted in the noh tradition whose slow, sinister movements secure the story's chilly spine. Insidious lover Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) floats around like an upright mermaid, mesmerising angry dog Washizu with her mysterious tail. The dense imagery in 'Throne Of Blood' utilises high-contrast black and white photography to separate the insane from the supernatural.
"The central themes of loyalty, betrayal, tragedy and superstition that define the original play ('Macbeth') remained intact in what has been latterly hailed as one of the finest celluloid renderings of the Bard’s work. However, much of the praise lavished on Throne of Blood came in recent decades. In Japan, Kurosawa was accused at the time of being stuck in the past for his heavy use of techniques from Noh, a theatrical tradition that predates Shakespeare by a few centuries. Meanwhile, a 1961 New York Times review dismissed the film as “serio-comic” and “a pictorial extravagance that provides a conclusive howl.” Titled Kumonosu Jo, literally Castle of the Spider’s Web, in Japan, it was one of a trilogy of Kurosawa films loosely based on Shakespeare plays: The Bad Sleep Well (1965) was a reimagining of Hamlet and also starred Mifune, while 1985’s Ran borrowed heavily from King Lear. As in a number of Kurosawa films, the elements become almost a protagonist in the story of Throne of Blood. Mifune’s Washizu and General Odagura — played by the prolific Takashi Shimura, who appeared in 21 Kurosawa films — get lost while riding in thick fog back to their castle. The fog then clears to reveals the castle, an allegorical reference to the clarity of vision Washizu acquires after meeting the witch who foretells his destiny. Where most directors would have simply used artificial smoke for the scene, the famously perfectionist Kurosawa waited for days with his crew high on Mt. Fuji, where the castle set was built, for fog to envelop the slopes and then lift."
- Gavin J. Blair, writing for the Hong Kong International Festival
- Gavin J. Blair, writing for the Hong Kong International Festival
"Although the script uses not a single line from its source, Kurosawa’s celebrated transplantation of Macbeth to the lawless realm of 16th-century Japan counts among the finest screen adaptations of Shakespeare ever realised, a faithful rendition of the story that works perfectly within its own historical context. Its title translates literally as ‘Spider’s Web Castle’, and the gothic setting of a deserted castle filled with dark shadows and swathed in fog forms the perfect frame for Mifune’s tortured turn as Washizu, the samurai usurper haunted by past crimes. The austere staging and performances, drawing upon traditional Noh theatre, lend an appropriate note of theatricality to proceedings, blurring the gap between the real and the supernatural, while Kurosawa surpasses even himself with the quite jaw-dropping climax as Washizu’s violent misdeeds catch up with him."
- Jasper Sharp, The British Film Institute
- Jasper Sharp, The British Film Institute
Noh Nightmares : 'Sound Of The Mask' (1954)
Kabuki Dreams : 'Onibaba' (1964)
Bunraku Reality : 'A Page Of Madness' (1926)
