The first movie made by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa that I had the pleasure to watch. It is a re-telling of Shakesperean Macbeth,
this time set in Sengoku era Japan. While it largely follows the ideas of the English play, Kurosawa however blends them with his own.
The Japanese Macbeth - Washizu Taketoki - has been masterfully represented by the equally legendary actor Toshiro Mifune.
It is a brilliant movie, and displays just how versatile the themes of ambition and betrayal trully are. Personally, however, certain things
have suprised me, and I am not certain how precisely to treat them.
Shakespeare's play is complete, in all meanings of the word - every scene can be looked back upon and provide foreshadowing for future events.
Kurosawa does not include certain elements, which may sadden a purist.
The character of Lady Asaji Washizu, equivalent to Lady Macbeth, played by Isuzu Yamada is almost perfect, but Kurosawa does not complete her story.
Lady Washizu is last seen hallucinating akin to Lady Macbeth, but nothing is done about the situation - we don't hear of her anymore.
Washizu witnesses his wife cleaning her hands in trance, which is another digression from the original,
but hastily leaves after hearing the battle is soon to start.
"A man not of woman born" is not present, nor is he needed -
Washizu is killed by his own men before the "forest" makes its way to the Fort. This ending suprised me, expecting at least a final duel between a
"Macbeth" and "Macduff", which has been masterfully executed in Polański's Macbeth 14 years later. That was Kurosawa's vision, though,
and perhaps a nice change of pace. Still, the lack of certain scenes is really visible when contrasted with the original - maybe a limitation of the time?
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this movie to fans of the English author, but be aware that it might suprise you where you least expect it. 9/10
"Another day, another banger" - Akira Kurosawa.
The Men [...] is a very short (only 59 minutes) movie that has kept me on edge the entire time.
It follows a segment of the story of Yoshitsune Minamoto, the brother of the newly established Shogun following the Genpei war. Distrusting his brother,
The Shogun Yoritomo orders to arrest Yoshitsune. This forces Yoshitsune to go north - towards the friendly Fujiwara realm - with his retinue of 6 samurai.
In the disguise of ascetic monks, they attempt to pass the border check set up by the Shogun...
The characters of the movie are bold and memorable, especially the Porter (Ken'ichi Enomoto), Benkei (Denjirō Ōkōchi), and Togashi (Susumu Fujita).
The Porter, a vivid comedic character is able to perfectly represent the anxities of the viewers as Benkei, Yoshitsune's warrior, is interrogated by
Togashi, the local-warlord-turned-border-patrol. Togashi relentlessly but calmly throws barrages of questions at Benkei, and the audience is kept in
terrifying uncertainty as he defuses the situation. The movie contains elements that are similar to the Throne of Blood - songs and poetry, shots of nature,
Japanese cultural and religious customs, making it a very entertaining insight into Japanese legends and history.
I wholeheartedly recommend this movie to everyone on Earth, because it has kept its tragi-comedic value to this day and is kept short and sweet, 10/10.