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Movie Review: Throne of Blood (Kurosawa)

I knew two things about this going in - plot based on MacBeth, finale involving huge numbers of arrows. The plot certainly reminded me that I don't remember much of what happened in MacBeth, but the end certainly did not disappoint. Toshiro Mifune is awesome to watch - even just his eyes are incredible displays of emotion. And Isuzu Yamada was fantastically creepy as his wife, stirring up all sorts of trouble. Of course, that shaved eyebrow with drawn in dots on the forehead look is always creepy to me since it looks like bruises to me. The movie overall, however, was a little disappointing. One of Kurosawa's earlier films it doesn't have the epic scale of some of his other movies, and the themes of this one seem simplistic. Although, looking at his filmography, it is amazing to me this was made after Rashomon and Seven Samurai. You know Washizu is doing the wrong thing and will pay for it all along, so the tension doesn't really build. But it was enjoyable, and certainly a nice change of pace for IFC's Samurai Saturday.