Comparison · 3 shared techniques

Throne of Blood vs Lost Highway

Throne of Blood (1957) and Lost Highway (1997) share 3 techniques. Here is how each film uses them.

Throne of Blood (1957) poster

Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa · 1957

Lost Highway (1997) poster

Lost Highway

David Lynch · 1997

Shared

Same technique, two films

Circular Structure

Ending the film where it started, or with a scene that echoes the opening. The repeat shows what has changed, or suggests the cycle will keep going.

Throne of Blood

The film opens on fog drifting over the ruins of the castle while a chorus sings about it, and it closes on the same image. Everything Washizu killed for ends as a marker in an empty landscape. You watch the whole story knowing it comes to nothing.

Lost Highway

The film opens with Fred hearing 'Dick Laurent is dead' over his intercom, and it closes with Fred saying the same line into the intercom himself. The repeat suggests he is stuck in a loop he can't escape. What you thought was a crime story becomes a trap.

Unreliable Reality

Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.

Throne of Blood

The film shows you Miki's ghost sitting at the banquet as clearly as any living guest. Then the seat is empty and Washizu is slashing at nothing in front of his court. You saw what he saw, so his guilt pulls you in with him.

Lost Highway

You can't tell whether Fred is really sent to death row, imagining another life or both. Lynch never says. He lets the film leave you as lost as Fred is.

Practical In-Camera Effects

Creating effects physically on set with makeup, prosthetics, built props and camera tricks, with no computer graphics added later. The results look solid and real.

Throne of Blood

Washizu's death was shot with real arrows fired by skilled archers at Toshiro Mifune. You can see the panic in his body as they thud into the walls around him. No trick shot could give you that much fear.

Lost Highway

The change from Fred to Pete was done with a fake head and shots of the actor, with no digital effects. The practical look makes the shift feel physical and wrong. You see a body come apart on set.

Different

Where they split

Only in Lost Highway