Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa, what else must I say? Although this is my first journey into a Kurosawa film, I have to say it was the best film I have seen in quite sometime. Throne of Blood (a.k.a. Kumonosu jô, and Spider Web Castle) is based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but set in medieval Japan. This film is perfect in everyway, even without color, because when color was introduced to film many filmmakers got lazy with some aspects of their movies.

Directing Throne of Blood seems like quite the task to take on, especially doing it in the style that Kurosawa directed. He would surround himself in his mind with every aspect of his current film, looking at it from every angle so that he could create the best film possibly every time. Throne of Blood being no exception. The acting in the film was very passionate especially from Toshirô Mifune (Washizu Taketori) every time he is on camera the audience can feel his passion for his craft. Another point of good direction and acting is the facial expressions exhibited by all characters in the film. Anyone who is on camera and the audience sees their face Kurosawa made sure their faces showed what they were saying.

Black and White films are one part of cinematography that I haven’t had to much experience with. I cannot judge the lighting of a black & white film very well because I do not know many of the techniques used when black & white films were common place. One thing that did stand out was the long lingering shadows that were in many shots. All the shots in the movie were covered in a light haze representing the fog that was all over the place. An example of this is when Washizu and Miki were lost in the fog the entire screen was consumed with fog. At one point I thought something was wrong with the movie because they were lost for so long. Another directing technique used by Kurosawa.

The sound in Throne of Blood was great from every footstep to every word out of someone mouth everything was easily detected by the audience. The very beginning of the film with the eye piercing music was especially pleasurable; when this music is played again later in the film it blends so well with the background music creating a well orchestrated piece of work. The man singing the same song at the beginning and end of the film link everything together and creates a feeling of completion in the viewer. The birds crying when Asaji (Washizu’s wife) and Washizu are speaking are quite haunting, and ghastly. She says that they are cries from heaven telling Washizu to kill the great lord and take his place. One of the best examples of sound in the film is the silence during the murder of the great lord scene. It is silence to create a powerful scene in with the audience sees the new great lord emerge. The sound of wind blowing is a focal of the movie, I think this was done to keep the audience focused on the screen and the only time it wasn’t blowing is when something very important was happening.

The costumes used in the film were traditional medieval Japanese military and traditional Japanese clothing. These costumes show that Kurosawa wanted everything right down to the last detail. All the costumes look as if they were taken straight from the time the movie is meant to depict.

No true special effects were used in this film the only part that may be mistaken for a special effect would be the infamous “Arrow Scene.” All the arrows used in this scene were real except the ones that hit Washizu which were bamboo fakes. They way this scene was done was professional marksmen were shooting the arrows and with his arms Washizu would tell them which way he was running. The final arrow through the neck, which kills Washizu, was actually a regular arrow that was rounded at the center so that it would fit around his neck looking as if it went through the neck.

Akira Kurosawa, a genius on all levels of filmmaking. His films inspired so many filmmakers and Throne of Blood is a film that is mentioned by some of today’s greatest directors when asked about some of the best films ever made. It is a perfect example of Kurosawa’s dedication to his craft.