Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Chris Lavery, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.
This time, Akira Kurosawa’s Kumonosu-jō.
War rages across feudal Japan. Tsuzuki has finally managed to subdue the latest insurrection against his rule. Journeying through Cobweb Forest, victorious generals Washizu and Miki stumble across a strange woman, who offers a prophecy that augers great and terrible things for the two men. Promised the throne, can Washizu resist the lure and temptation of power? More to the point, what terrible things will he do to procure such power?
At time of recording, it was ranked 245th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show notes:
- Recorded 30th April 2020.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Throne of Blood at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Chris on Twitter.
- George Chesterton at The New Statesman argues for Akira Kurosawa as “the pictorial Shakespeare of our time”, April 2013.
- Ben Nicholson at The BFI on the dialogue between Akira Kurosawa and William Shakespeare, March 2016.
- Sidney Lumet discusses the work of Akira Kurosawa as “the Beethoven of moviemaking” with The Criterion Collection, 2005.
- Donald Richie discusses the production and influences on Throne of Blood at The Criterion Collection, December 1991.
- Gavin J. Blair at The Hollywood Reporter looks back at the production of Throne of Blood, March 2016.
- Hrvoje Galić argues for Throne of Blood as the best adaptation of Macbeth at Taste of Cinema, October 2016.
- Akira Kurosawa talks to The Los Angeles Times about his process of adaptation, June 1991.
- Bosley Crowther reviews Throne of Blood in The New York Times, November 1961.
- Shakespearean scholars argue over the merits of Throne of Blood as an adaptation of Macbeth in The Atlantic, December 2006.
- Joseph Brennan at The Artifice argues that Throne of Blood is a truly cinematic Shakespeare adaptation, June 2013.
- Minae Yamamoto Savas at Bridgewater Review examines the influence of Noh theatre on Throne of Blood, Spring 2012.
- Guy Crucianelli at PopMatters on the influence of Noh Theatre on Throne of Blood, March 2014.
- Terrence Rafferty argues for the Roman Polanski version of Macbeth at The Criterion Collection, September 2014.
- David Ng at The Los Angeles Times on the revisiting of Roman Polanski’s Macbeth by The Criterion Collection, September 2014.
- Michael Almereyda at The Criterion Collection discusses The Bad Sleep Well, Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of Hamlet, January 2006.
- Mara Wilson discusses The Bad Sleep Well as the film that really warmed her to Hamlet, September 2019.
- Keith Phipps discusses the battle between fate and free will in Throne of Blood at The Dissolve, January 2014.
- The Criterion Collection looks at the shooting of the famous “arrow scene” from the climax of Throne of Blood, January 2014.
- Mike D’Angelo discusses the “arrow scene” from the climax of Throne of Blood at The A.V. Club, February 2016.
- Bruce Klinekole explains to The Dissolve why he walked off the set of The Ridiculous Six, May 2015.
- Peter Biskind reviews The Emperor and the Wolf for The New York Times, April 2002.
- Kathryn Neves at The Utah Shakespeare Festival on the relationship between Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King James I, June 2019.
- Philip Horne at The Telegraph discusses the use of weather in Akira Kurosawa films, January 2002.
- Jasper Sharp at The BFI on Akira Kurosawa’s command of the weather, May 2020.
- Keiko McDonald & Thomas Rimer at The Criterion Collection discuss Akira Kurosawa’s work on The Lower Depths, December 2003.
- Andrea Grunert at The Big Picture argues for I Live in Fear as an underrated classic in Akira Kurosawa’s filmography, May 2018.
- Stephen Prince at The Criterion Collection provides a cultural and historical context for Throne of Blood, January 2014.
- Michael Hoffman at The Japan Times takes a look back at the turbulent medieval history of Japan, March 2019.
- Andrew Knighton at War History Online offers a brief account of “the Age of the Country at War”, July 2017.
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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: akira kurosawa, chris lavery, destiny, fate, japan, macbeth, podcast, revenge, samurai, shakespeare, throne of blood, toshiro mifune |
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