General Wazishu (Toshiro Mifune) receives a prophecy that he will become the next Lord of Forest Castle. At first deeply disturbed by the implications of treason against the current lord (Yoichi Tachikawa), Wazishu grows more accustomed to the idea of usurpation, helped along by his wife, Lady Asaji (Isuzu Yamada). But the paranoia of ruling soon begins to unravel the pair, leading to more and more bloodshed.
It's always interesting to see different interpretations of literature, especially through the lens of a different culture. Kurosawa took several liberties with the source material to make it more specific to feudal Japan, but that really only makes it seem more universal in concept. Envy, greed, and ambition are not unique to 16th century Scotland, after all.
The cinematography is cold and forboding, and feels very stiff compared to some of Kurosawa's earlier work. It feels like a stage play. Mifune's face does a lot of heavy lifting in the film. His Macbeth counterpart wears his emotions on his sleeve, allowing the audience to practically see every thought he has. Yamada, by contrast, is icily calm, lending her paranoid suggestions the veneer of reasonability. Of course, Wazishu should kill the Forest Lord. Didn't he kill his predecessor to get the title? Doesn't Wazishu deserve it? After all, it's been foretold.
Despite my admiration, I found it hard to pay attention. The Scottish Play is one of my favorites and I am very familiar with its story beats. I was struck by the costumes, however, which are incredibly lush and (I assume) period-accurate. Wazishu's sigil is the centipede which was odd enough that I looked it up and according to Wikipedia, the centipede has a positive connotation with the God of War but a negative one because of its association with death. So it too represents the wheel of fortune that Macbeth faces.
It's currently streaming on Criterion Channel and (sigh) Max.
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