Essential Art House: Throne Of Blood

Picture quality is beautiful. All performances are amazing, but of course, the two main characters, played by Toshero Mifune and Minoru Chiaki, is outstanding. Sound is very good, with accurate subtitles in English. Dark, magical, and beautiful to watch.

In line with the quality of Seven Samurai well made solid acting. Well worth a watch

I couldn't possibly pick a single favorite Kurosawa film, but Throne of Blood is definitely in the top two or three.First, regarding the movie itself, the acting, costumes, action sequences and cinematography are all top notch. It contains stunning visuals, such as the pervasive fog-enshrouded landscape, the spirit in the woods and the final sequence with the moving forest. Furthermore, Kurosawa is still unmatched when it comes to filming a large army on the move, as is seen more than once in Throne of Blood (and later in Ran).Toshiro Mifune gives a visceral and energetic performance as Washizu (essentially Macbeth), but perhaps the most memorable role is played by Isuzu Yamada as Asaji (Lady Macbeth), who, in spite of her limited screen time, is chilling and unforgettable due her ruthlessness, emotional detachment, and pessimistic view of human nature.Like the best Kurosawa films, it's also thematically interesting, especially with its exploration of the paranoia that comes from power, leading to a circle of violence springing from the idea of killing your potential rival before they decide to kill you.The Criterion Blu-Ray is also great. The picture is clear, and the sound is as good as can be expected for being monaural. I also found the extras very interesting, especially the essay relating to the difficulties of subtitling Japanese films. The film also includes two separate English subtitle options to reveal the subjectivity of this process. As an occasional translator of Spanish and Portuguese texts I found this fascinating.Throne of Blood is definitely worth having in your collection if you’re a fan of Shakespeare adaptations, Kurosawa, or good drama films in general.

Ordered this for my son he was VERY pleased. He said it was the version he had been searching. Great picture quality and English subtitles.

A fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in Feudal Japan, but with a Kurosawa twist: unlike the play that wraps everything up neatly with the coronation of Malcolm, Throne of Blood ends in chaos. It's a great film; can't recommend it enough for Kurosawa fans or Shakespeare fans.

It was terribly boring and dull, but I will give credit to the movie for its originality. I doubt the idea of brutal self fulfilling prophecies was popular at the time of it's release and would have been fairly unique. That said, the plot slowly plods along it's predictable path, which left me bored and disinterested. Serious movie buffs might enjoy this movie for its cinematography and the intensity brought forth by the actors, but the casual movie fan should probably skip this one.

It is with Ran by the same director a take on a Shakespeare play, in this case, MacBeth. Ran is Lear. They are both moving in their way, especially Ran and the costumes, the acting, the settings take you to another place, another time but the stories they tell are universal. You may notice that I prefer Ran, but that is because I remember certain moving scenes--Lear riding happily with the son he banished right before that son is shot down--it is heart breaking as the death of Cordelia in the original Shakespeare. You cannot forget it. Toshiro Mifune is great in any role, by the way.

While I was still teaching high school English classes, I used this as supplemental background to Macbeth. The already "know-it-all" teenagers were introduced to multicultural universal human reactions.

This movie was directed by same man who did "The Seven Samurai" and also done in black and white. This uses elements of the Japanese concept of noh (stage play) and also elaborate stage work. Not much fighting but genius acting played by the ruthless leader from beginning to end.

I'm going to start off with saying that I HATE Shakespeare (I'm sorry, but High School ruined his work for me).But I found this palatable. Kurosawa's great; I'm a filmy so I'm supposed to like his work automatically. This film is Macbeth set in feudal Japan with some creative liberties: nothing special. BUT if you're a Shakespeare, or theatre, purest, you won't like this movie.On a positive note, everyone involved in making this movie does a great job and I think anybody whose studying Macbeth should put down that wretched play and watch this movie instead!

Kurosawa pinches from Shakespeare and comes up with a masterpiece. It is not his finest work (see Seven Samurai, Ran, High and Low, etc.) but it is really good. The image quality in the Criterion Bluray is excellent, and there is a nice accompanying booklet and a documentary from It's Wonderful to Create. I didn't buy it for the extras.Every Kurosawa film is worth seeing, but if you're new to Kurosawa, this is not a bad place to start.

Kurosawa never fail to impress. With his take on Macbeth this was one incredible watch

Image Macbeth as a samurai lord. That's what this film does. Its an interesting blend of an old Scottish story as filtered through Shakespeare and then transported into medieval Japan. It works brilliantly.