Throne of Blood 1957 PG
When
6.00pm, Wed 4 May 2016 (110 mins)
Where
Gallery of Modern Art & Cinema A
About
This screening of Throne of Blood will be presented in 35mm.
Akira Kurosawa transports Macbeth to the mists of Feudal Japan in this classic adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. Throne of Blood is a key collaboration in one of cinema's greatest actor-director partnerships with Toshirô Mifune leading the cast as samurai warrior Washizu, whose bloody rise to power eats away at his soul. After receiving a prophecy from a spirit who claims to be able to predict his future, Washizu becomes consumed with
The film was Kurosawa's first of three Shakespeare adaptations (followed subsequently by The Bad Sleep Well 1960 and Ran 1985) and in many ways it was the most faithful to the original text. His haunting depiction of the corruption of Washizu is ethereal and harrowing in equal measure, with an arrow-filled finale that remains completely breathtaking.
PG | Occasional violence
Film Details
- Director/Editor: Akira Kurosawa
- Script: Shinobu Hashimoto, RyûzÔ Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
- Based on: the play 'Macbeth' By William Shakespeare
- Cinematographer: Asakazu Nakai
- Production Company: Toho Studios
- Print Source: National Film Center, National Film Center, Japan
- Rights: Madman Entertainment
- Year: 1957
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- Country: Japan
- Languages: Japanese, (with English subtitles)
- Sound: Mono
- Colour: Black & White
- Screening Format: 35mm