The Kurosawa Century #7: Shakespeare in Feudal Japan: Throne of Blood (1957) & Ran (1985)

Throne of Blood (1957, 111 Minutes)

Kurosawa's intense and violent version of Shakespeare's Macbeth leans into the militaristic aspects of the play. Toshiro Mifune stars as Samurai commander Washizu who is told by an evil spirit in the forest, he will be king someday. When he confides in his wife Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) she persuades him to murder the Lord of the Castle. 

Throne of Blood is one of Kurosawa's moodiest and most atmospheric films, the fog, rain, and darkness hover over the entire film. It might be his most heavy metal in style, you can imagine the film synching with any great metal album. Mifune's performance is dialed up to eleven, it's almost exhausting to watch. He plays the character as so troubled, tormented, and prone to violence. His death by a thousand arrows is one of the most famous in cinema history, I can't imagine any other adaptation of Macbeth topping it. 

Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is more war movie than tragedy. Washizu is not a sympathetic character nor a philosophical one, there's no "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" soliloquy. He's a fanatical warrior and I view the film as a commentary on the self-destructive nature of militarism and imagines madness as the ultimate destination. Whether Japan's history in the 1930s was on Kurosawa's mind is mere speculation. Battle scenes are the major set pieces, including the moving forest sequence. The cinematography is superior and the narrative is tight as a drum. 

Ran (1985, 162 Minutes)

Inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear, Ran reimagines the play as a bloody power struggle in feudal Japan. In this version the king has three sons, although the wife of one (Lady Kaede) plays a major role in the story. Ran is on the same wavelength of Throne of Blood, but the story goes way deeper into human psychology and power. 

The film opens with Lord Hidetora announcing his plans to hand the throne to his oldest son. The other two immediately question the decision and all hell breaks loose. We know that Hidetora committed his share of violence in his past, he massacred his enemies and left a violent legacy. The wife of Hiro encourages him to wage war on his brothers. The result leads to a bloody battle for a caste, one of Kurosawa's bleakest and most stunning sequences. People just die senseless deaths. It's just a cold business with no glory, a major contrast to Seven Samurai. 

Ran is Kurosawa's most apocalyptic film. The cycle of violence is unending. Technically, the film is a masterclass at every level. The sounds of the wind and rain. The distinct color pallets and the stunning compositions. The sequences avoid being too graphic which makes them even more powerful, the gravity of what's happening calls for reflection instead of awe. The self-destruction of a civilization is at the mercy of incomprehensible forces of history. 

Yet in contrast to violence is the beauty and majesty of nature. As a force, nature is indifferent to the story, and it's always in the background. As brutal events play out in these vast landscapes, the vibrant colors of world are still there. Characters are often dwarfed by the vastness of the sky and the mountains making their actions feel ephemeral and insignificant. Characters struggle with the wind, somehow diminishing their power. Weather plays a major role in most Kurosawa films, in Ran it becomes a character.