12 Best Film Adaptations Of Shakespeare's Tragedies

Based On: Macbeth

Adaptation:

Akira Kurosawa loved Shakespeare and made two Shakespearean movies. This is an adaptation of Macbeth set in Feudal Japan. Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's frequent collaborator, plays Macbeth (here re-named Washizu). It takes quite a few liberties with the play, so it's not the most faithful adaptation. For example, the Three Witches are replaced by a lone spirit.

Chilling, visually stunning, pathos-filled and uniquely atmospheric, this is not only one of Akira Kurosawa's best films, but it's also one of the very best Shakespeare adaptations of all time.

Toshiro Mifune was an incredible actor and he gives a typically great performance in the lead role, while Kurosawa is his usual brilliant self. Kurosawa's brilliance as a visual stylist is in full effect here with his use of stunning and Gothic cinematography to represent Macbeth's madness and paranoia. Thanks to these visual metaphors, this is an adaptation that really uses the cinematic medium to its benefit instead of just being a filmed version of the play.

Throne of Blood really brings out the Horror elements in Macbeth as well, so you could also call this one of the best J-Horror films of all time. It's generally a very strong dramatic piece with all the pathos, madness and darkness an adaptation of Macbeth deserves and needs, with a great, often-imitated final scene in which Washizu is impaled with multiple arrows.