8/10
A warlord consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife murders enemies and takes the rule for himself
14 October 2018
Prestigious recounting marked by evocative production design , unflinching violence, intense drama and fatalistic atmosphere . It is an incredibly detailed vision in its own right . Akira Kurosawa masterful retelling of Macbeth transports the tale to Medieval Japan and the world of Samurai . As it is so steeped in Japanese style that it bears little resemblance to the Shakespearean Macbeth original . It deals with two war-hardened generals Washizu , Toshiro Mifune , and Miki , Chiaki, who after securing an important victory on the battlefield return home, they are to rewarded by their overlord after having put down a rebellion , as they are promoted because of their breathtaking victory. Then they come across a spirit-alike seer and tell them of their future . But they find themselves lost on woods on their way to their castle . Then they meet at a maze-like the mysterious old woman, a spirit-like who prophesizes that Mifune will soon rule , but his realm will be short . The witch is missed as crazy but her prophesies come to pass . The tough general egged by his scheming as well as ambitious wife lady Adaji , Yamada , works to fullfill a prophecy that he would become lord of spider's cobweb castle but with unexpected consequences . As Washizu takes action winding up to its inevitable result .

Big budgeted production , with lavish setting , lots of mood , impressive battles , sad atmosphere, though it holds limited likeness to the Shakespearean play , due to Samurai and Japan style . Classic tragedy is performed with a celebrated lead acting by Toshiro Mifune, he is the tragic lord as a demonic leader of a feudal society who is prophecised to have a short reign . Mifune gives an extraordinary acting as the angry lord who receives a prophecy by a witch , as he one day will become the main ruler, while Miki'son will someday govern as Great Lord as well . It contains stunning fight scenes , fine performances, overwhelming sets , intense drama in which all of the fire , ambition, and doom of the Shakespearean text come brilliantly to life.

The motion picture titled Cobweb castle or The castle of the Spider's web was stunningly directed by Akita Kurosawa . He was a master filmmaker who made a lot of masterpieces . He realized several films about Samurai world such as Ran , Kagemusha , Yojimbo , 7 Samurai , The hidden fortress , Rashomon . And influenced in American and European cinema . As Rashomon inspired The outrage by Martin Ritt , Basic by John MacTiernan and Yojimbo inspired Sergio Leone's For a fisful of dollars . And he directed other versions based on Dostowieski's The Idiot, and Ran based on Shakespeare's King Lear. Other notorious films by Kurosawa were Doden Kaden , High and low, Sanjuro, The bad sleep well, Red beard, Scandal , A quiet duel , On wonderful Sunday, The lower depths, I live in fear, Ikuru . With the help of admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, he made the samurai tale Kagemusha (1980), which Kurosawa described as a dry run for Ran (1985), an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear" . His last films were a larger-scale Russian co-production Dersu Uzala (1975) , it is an epic tale and nature ode as well as adventure in turn-of-the-century Siberia , the colorful : Dreams in which plays Martin Scorsese , and finally , Rapsody in August 1991 about Hiroshima atomic bombings .

Other films based on Macbeth are the followings : Macbeth 1948 starred and directed by Orson Welles with Daniel O'Herlihy , Roddy McDowall, Jeanette Nolan , Macbeth 1971 by Roman Polanski with John Finch, Francesca Annis , Martin Shaw, Macbeth 1976 with Eric Porter, Janet Suzman , Macbeth 1990 with Michael Jayston, Leigh Hunt , Macbeth 2015 by Justin Kurzel with Michael Fassbinder, Marion Cotillard, Paddy Considine , Sean Harris.
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