Although the spoken word is sparingly used in this reworking of Macbeth, the structure of the play is closely adhered to by retaining the division of acts. Kurosawa plays on similarities between the European and Japanese Middle Ages. There are also essentially Japanese elements. The use of the chorus derives from the Noh drama as does the ritual, closed quality especially in the presentation of Lady Asaji and the witch. The film is ‘founded on the principle of opposition between extreme violence or pathos and moments of static, restrained tension to be found in nearly all of Kurosawa’s films’ (Noel Burch). Also available on VHS and 16mm.
Credits: Director, Akira Kurosawa ; script, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa ; photographer, Asaichi Nakai ; music, Masaru Sato.
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
F000069
Languages
English
Japanese
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
35mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)