Throne of Blood
1957, NR, 108 min.
Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Starring Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura.

Kurosawa leaves his stamp on Shakespeare by setting his version of Macbeth in feudal Japan with warring samurai. Often cited as the most “Western” of the Japanese directors, Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood is the grizzliest Macbeth you’re likely ever to see. It’s powerful filmmaking and provides much revelatory cultural frisson. It also features some of the best work of Kurosawa’s alter-ego Toshiro Mifune.

This article appears in January 31 • 2003.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.