SUN 27 OCT
Coming Soon to
Lumiere Cinemas
105 mins |
Rated
M (Violence & horror)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Starring Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Akira Kubo
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, THRONE OF BLOOD, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan.
As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. THRONE OF BLOOD fuses classical western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theatre to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.
THRONE OF BLOOD is Kurosawa’s third adaptation of a western literary classic (The Idiot (1951) was based on a story by Dostoevsky, and The Lower Depths (1957) a Maxim Gorky play), it also marks his first reimagining of the work of William Shakespeare, followed by The Bad Sleep Well (1960), which was loosely inspired by Hamlet, and Ran (1985) which was based on King Lear.
Kurosawa had wanted to make his Macbeth adaptation as early as the mid-40s, but had decided to put the idea on hold when Orson Welles released his version in 1948. A decade later, he returned to the project.
"Throne Of Blood defeats categorisation. It remains a landmark of visual strength, permeated by a particularly Japanese sensibility, and is possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen...." The Guardian
"Akira Kurosawa's remarkable 1957 restaging of Macbeth in samurai and expressionist terms is unquestionably one of his finest works -- charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror...."
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A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, THRONE OF BLOOD, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan.
As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. THRONE OF BLOOD fuses classical western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theatre to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.
THRONE OF BLOOD is Kurosawa’s third adaptation of a western literary classic (The Idiot (1951) was based on a story by Dostoevsky, and The Lower Depths (1957) a Maxim Gorky play), it also marks his first reimagining of the work of William Shakespeare, followed by The Bad Sleep Well (1960), which was loosely inspired by Hamlet, and Ran (1985) which was based on King Lear.
Kurosawa had wanted to make his Macbeth adaptation as early as the mid-40s, but had decided to put the idea on hold when Orson Welles released his version in 1948. A decade later, he returned to the project.
"Throne Of Blood defeats categorisation. It remains a landmark of visual strength, permeated by a particularly Japanese sensibility, and is possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen...." The Guardian
"Akira Kurosawa's remarkable 1957 restaging of Macbeth in samurai and expressionist terms is unquestionably one of his finest works -- charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror...."