Kurosawa and Shakespeare are usually an excellent combination and it is great pity that Monsieur Kurosawa did not transfer much more of Shakespeare’s plays to Japan! His versions of Macbeth and King Lear are brilliant; especially when he has his dramatic minion Monsieur Mifune with him to enact his Samurai tales; though I am normally a Shakespeare purist and demand full text and Medieval or Renaissance costumes I adore his Japanese versions due to his rearrangement of them!
Monsieur Kurosawa is even able to fix the tragic flaw, as the tragedies of Shakespeare lack somewhat the tragic essence, as it is found in the Greek tragedies, in which the humans are cast into destruction, guilt and despair by the Gods and Fate, while in Shakespeare the humans are guilty alone and know of it before; like Macbeth does contemplate the fell consequences of his deed before and still commits it due to his lust for power, but not here: The hero kills his prince out of fear.
Apart from this the Zen-Buddhist elements, which the chants of the evil spirit personates, bring something unique in the play with their rejection of human life as evil, brief and miserable; not to mention the amazing way in which Kurosawa does make his movies! The camera is nothing but an invisible observer and the scene is not enacted for it but it observes it without being noticed by the actors, while in many commercial flicks the overpaid actors worship it and destroy all illusions!
@FireEyedMaidOfWar One of the "tragic flaws" of Kurosawa's film, is that there is no Macbeth Act 3 scene 5 equivalent.How else are we to make sense of Lady Macbeth/Asaji's transformation from a steely life force to a shrinking shrieker too small for her crime.I'm sure Kurosawa was or became aware of this flaw:but I think he was too intoxicated by that "sweet,sweet,sweet poison" of the fawning cinestas to care. Old man Kurosawa got an invite from the "cool kids" of the west ,and didn't look back!
@FireEyedMaidOfWar I'm rather surprised Bellona gave Kurowsawa a pass on this one, as without an Act 3 scene 5 to rest our heads on,we are left to conclude that ladies, by nature aren't capable closing the deal before turning into a hot mess.
@titusact4scene2: A little less cryptic statement would make it easier for the reader to gasp the sense of them! And are you sure that you are correct about the named scene? Since that scene is in my Macbeth play on Hecate chiding her witches for deluding Macbeth; and one has to have a sense for true Dionysian Tragedy, according to Nietzsche, to realize how much Kurosawa purified Shakespeare’s play; Macbeth is no more the wilful seeker of his own destruction but a toy to Fate.
@FireEyedMaidOfWar (1)For some,Act3scene5 is easy to overlook.Up until 3.4,Lady M was still self-possessed.We don't hear from her again till 5.1.Here she has become undone.By 5.5 she is dead from despair "Tomorrow,and tomorrow,and tomorrow..".What happened? Hecate happened!It's all fine and dandy to purify Macbeth,but the story still has to work.You can suspend disbelief,but not the imagination.There must be a bridge of plausibility for the imagination to join the two Lady Macbeths
@FireEyedMaidOfWar (2)Shakespeare provides this bridge with the introduction of,and intervention by Hecate.The appearance of Hecate signals a change."this night I'll spend Unto a dismal and a fatal end". Lady Macbeth is most clearly changed by 5.1, almost as if she'd switched souls with Macbeth.Kurosawa gives us no device to make sense of Asaji's metamorphosis.
@titusact4scene2: Shakespeare was more subtle than that but that will I explain to you in another private messages as I have to use quotes and I am sick and tired to the 500 character restriction in the comment section; and will take such vengeances on Google for it as King Lear vows against his daughters and my revenge shall belong to the terrors of the earth, too!
If you look on Lady Macbeth closely you can see a twist in her long ago, which she fights, but in the end it overpowers her.
Kurosawa and Shakespeare are usually an excellent combination and it is great pity that Monsieur Kurosawa did not transfer much more of Shakespeare’s plays to Japan! His versions of Macbeth and King Lear are brilliant; especially when he has his dramatic minion Monsieur Mifune with him to enact his Samurai tales; though I am normally a Shakespeare purist and demand full text and Medieval or Renaissance costumes I adore his Japanese versions due to his rearrangement of them!
FireEyedMaidOfWar 7 months ago
Monsieur Kurosawa is even able to fix the tragic flaw, as the tragedies of Shakespeare lack somewhat the tragic essence, as it is found in the Greek tragedies, in which the humans are cast into destruction, guilt and despair by the Gods and Fate, while in Shakespeare the humans are guilty alone and know of it before; like Macbeth does contemplate the fell consequences of his deed before and still commits it due to his lust for power, but not here: The hero kills his prince out of fear.
FireEyedMaidOfWar 7 months ago
Apart from this the Zen-Buddhist elements, which the chants of the evil spirit personates, bring something unique in the play with their rejection of human life as evil, brief and miserable; not to mention the amazing way in which Kurosawa does make his movies! The camera is nothing but an invisible observer and the scene is not enacted for it but it observes it without being noticed by the actors, while in many commercial flicks the overpaid actors worship it and destroy all illusions!
FireEyedMaidOfWar 7 months ago
@FireEyedMaidOfWar One of the "tragic flaws" of Kurosawa's film, is that there is no Macbeth Act 3 scene 5 equivalent.How else are we to make sense of Lady Macbeth/Asaji's transformation from a steely life force to a shrinking shrieker too small for her crime.I'm sure Kurosawa was or became aware of this flaw:but I think he was too intoxicated by that "sweet,sweet,sweet poison" of the fawning cinestas to care. Old man Kurosawa got an invite from the "cool kids" of the west ,and didn't look back!
titusact4scene2 4 months ago
@FireEyedMaidOfWar I'm rather surprised Bellona gave Kurowsawa a pass on this one, as without an Act 3 scene 5 to rest our heads on,we are left to conclude that ladies, by nature aren't capable closing the deal before turning into a hot mess.
titusact4scene2 4 months ago
@titusact4scene2: A little less cryptic statement would make it easier for the reader to gasp the sense of them! And are you sure that you are correct about the named scene? Since that scene is in my Macbeth play on Hecate chiding her witches for deluding Macbeth; and one has to have a sense for true Dionysian Tragedy, according to Nietzsche, to realize how much Kurosawa purified Shakespeare’s play; Macbeth is no more the wilful seeker of his own destruction but a toy to Fate.
FireEyedMaidOfWar 4 months ago
@FireEyedMaidOfWar (1)For some,Act3scene5 is easy to overlook.Up until 3.4,Lady M was still self-possessed.We don't hear from her again till 5.1.Here she has become undone.By 5.5 she is dead from despair "Tomorrow,and tomorrow,and tomorrow..".What happened? Hecate happened!It's all fine and dandy to purify Macbeth,but the story still has to work.You can suspend disbelief,but not the imagination.There must be a bridge of plausibility for the imagination to join the two Lady Macbeths
titusact4scene2 3 months ago
@FireEyedMaidOfWar (2)Shakespeare provides this bridge with the introduction of,and intervention by Hecate.The appearance of Hecate signals a change."this night I'll spend Unto a dismal and a fatal end". Lady Macbeth is most clearly changed by 5.1, almost as if she'd switched souls with Macbeth.Kurosawa gives us no device to make sense of Asaji's metamorphosis.
titusact4scene2 3 months ago
@titusact4scene2: Shakespeare was more subtle than that but that will I explain to you in another private messages as I have to use quotes and I am sick and tired to the 500 character restriction in the comment section; and will take such vengeances on Google for it as King Lear vows against his daughters and my revenge shall belong to the terrors of the earth, too!
If you look on Lady Macbeth closely you can see a twist in her long ago, which she fights, but in the end it overpowers her.
FireEyedMaidOfWar 3 months ago
I saw this movie Tuner Classic Movies Channel, great movie!
TEMPLEKING1974 1 year ago