Throne of Blood

Ehhh...I don't hate it. I just don't love it. Stretches of it bore the hell out of me. Kurosawa's direction seemed atypically restrained to me, and as a result, his attempts at creating tension fall flat on their face. Points for Mifune and a couple of great scenes (the ending blaze of arrows, the ghost dinner party, to name a couple), but other than that, whatever. It's not bad by any means though. I admittedly need to rewatch it.

Not Kurosawa's best but still absolutely incredible. Mifune is brilliant and the evil spirit in the forest is very memorable because he's actually quite frightening. A must for any film enthusiast.

One of the weakest of Kurosawa's literary adaptations, and certainly the weakest of his Shakespeare. I find the Noh influence to be very uninteresting here. There are a fair share of wonderful, memorable scenes and yet the other scenes seem to just hang there. It's not paced especially well. Before I start sounding too much like a Grumpy Gus, though, it's still a good movie. Its exploration of ambition and treachery are powerful, and I find it interesting to meditate on the theme of free will.

A stone-hearted performance by Isuzu Yamada, the descent into madness writ large on Mifune's face, the spartan staging, the contrast of black volcanic soil beneath a pale drapery of fog. This film's unshakeable evil is made of strong gestures, one of Kurosawa's most tactile and atmospheric works. Usually a sensitive humanist, never before and only once again, with Ran, would he portray this sort of vicious karmic cycle.

A major problem I have with this film is the lack of emotional weight in the story, it's also rather uneven and quite boring at times (and I'm relieved I'm not the only one who couldn't give a crap). The technical aspects are once again top notch (art direction, costumes, camera work,...) and Mifune is a joy to watch, but I expected something more from the great director.