King Lear
So I watched the play version of Lear with Ian Mckellan. It’s basically about an old man whose two eldest daughters throw him out into the cold because they don’t want to deal with him. And his youngest daughter, who loves him the most, ends up dead. Actually scratch that. The majority end up dead. It’s Shakespeare. The moral of the story is that I was so moved by Ian Mckellan and his performance that I vowed that I wouldn’t do the same thing as those daughters did. The young are obligated to take care of the old. So be it. It’s the right thing to do.
I love Shakespeare. If you enjoyed that, you should check-out the movie RAN by Akira Kurosawa. It’s an amazing film, a retelling of King Lear in Japanese motif. Here is a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbbfDntoRRk
The scariest version of ‘Macbeth’ I have ever seen was a black and white Japanese ‘Samurai’ film version where the 3 witches were replaced with an old wizard guy with a spinning wheel..
That’s another film by Akira Kurosawa, 1957’s “Throne of Blood”… I get the feeling Kurosawa loved Shakespeare. 😉 Great film too, and it stars the amazing Toshiro Mifune (who was like the Clint Eastwood / John Wayne of Japan back then). I agree it’s very eerie and has such a sense of dread as “Macbeth” (Washizu) descends into madness and evil. And oh, that ending!
Kurosawa made a lot of incredible movies that inspired (or were downright copied into) many other films worldwide. For example, his 1958 film “The Hidden Fortress” (an action-adventure film) strongly influenced George Lucas as he made “Star Wars”.
This sounds amazing!
I’ll try!
The singing of the old wizard guy and the ‘eeriness’ of the film scared me witless – Blair Witch eat your heart out. I agree you could feel the dread as if it was an actual presence – not bad for an old B&W film!
Wow I’ll be sure to check it out!