Throne of Blood
Director: Akira Kurosawa Year: 1957 The first thing to keep in mind when watching any movie from a previous decade, generation or, in this case, nearly 50 years in the past, is context. There are going to be elements, usually technical, that simply don’t match up with modern expectations. The same goes for cultural, artistic and language differences. A viewer has to open her mind up a bit in order to let the film past normal skeptical checkpoints of the mind and its fight for what it deems normal. An undisciplined viewer might allow these elements to distract him to the point of quitting the film. With Throne of Blood, that would be a tremendous mistake. The story, as it should be, is king – and what a grand king it is. Kurosawa is one of Japan’s masters in the art of film and his craftsmanship is on full display here. The script is based on Shakespeare’s MacBeth and the blood-rich theme of ambition is at its heart. The score screeches at us during the opening title...