Runtime: 110 minutes
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo
From: Toho
I did a pretty rare thing and deleted my original review of this film (done in 2010) as it was no good. See something better about this movie below:
In this special night owl posting of a review (pretty rare for me), note the motion pictures below:
Rashomon
Ikiru
Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood
The Hidden Fortress
The Bad Sleep Well
Harakiri
The Sword of Doom
All of these movies were co-written by one man: Shinobu Hashimoto. I mean, Rashomon was the first movie he ever wrote; what a hell of a debut. Unfortunately, Hashimoto has just passed away at the age of 100. Especially on Letterboxd, his career needs to be noted as it is amazing he was part of so many highly regarded motion pictures and worked so often with another legend in Kurosawa. I feel this movie is “just” very good and that is far from an insult when you look at the body of work from both director and co-writer.
I had seen this before, albeit a few years before I joined Letterboxd. It was no problem seeing this version of Macbeth again, which was done in the Noh style; considering its theatrical nature there is no surprise that it is rather exaggerated. Yet it works for the telling of this tale, which I won't elaborate upon as I'll presume everyone at least knows the basics of this Shakespearean piece of work, concerning how the titular character is foretold success in a prophecy... spurned on by his scheming wife, he achieves it but due to paranoia and other factors, things come crumbling down. It is not the most faithful of adaptations but that is OK; there is no shortage of films that follow the original story more closely.
Considering the talent involved, no kidding that this was at least very good and plenty say it is great. Toshiro Mifune as Not Macbeth was boss as always, and Isuzu Yamada as Not Lady Macbeth also did quality work as the schemer. The story managed to work pretty well in a samurai setting, and often you see plenty of fog, which helped set the mood. The ending: I'll just say it's a stunner.
Sometime in the future I need to see more films from Hashimoto (as in, ones new to me) as I will presume I will love most of them, or at the very least rate them pretty high as I did with Throne of Blood.
Rashomon
Ikiru
Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood
The Hidden Fortress
The Bad Sleep Well
Harakiri
The Sword of Doom
All of these movies were co-written by one man: Shinobu Hashimoto. I mean, Rashomon was the first movie he ever wrote; what a hell of a debut. Unfortunately, Hashimoto has just passed away at the age of 100. Especially on Letterboxd, his career needs to be noted as it is amazing he was part of so many highly regarded motion pictures and worked so often with another legend in Kurosawa. I feel this movie is “just” very good and that is far from an insult when you look at the body of work from both director and co-writer.
I had seen this before, albeit a few years before I joined Letterboxd. It was no problem seeing this version of Macbeth again, which was done in the Noh style; considering its theatrical nature there is no surprise that it is rather exaggerated. Yet it works for the telling of this tale, which I won't elaborate upon as I'll presume everyone at least knows the basics of this Shakespearean piece of work, concerning how the titular character is foretold success in a prophecy... spurned on by his scheming wife, he achieves it but due to paranoia and other factors, things come crumbling down. It is not the most faithful of adaptations but that is OK; there is no shortage of films that follow the original story more closely.
Considering the talent involved, no kidding that this was at least very good and plenty say it is great. Toshiro Mifune as Not Macbeth was boss as always, and Isuzu Yamada as Not Lady Macbeth also did quality work as the schemer. The story managed to work pretty well in a samurai setting, and often you see plenty of fog, which helped set the mood. The ending: I'll just say it's a stunner.
Sometime in the future I need to see more films from Hashimoto (as in, ones new to me) as I will presume I will love most of them, or at the very least rate them pretty high as I did with Throne of Blood.
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