Yojimbo

Year: 1961

Grade: A

Country: Japan

Director: Kurosawa

Review

this might be the most entertaining of kurosawa’s films in large part because it is the most comedic. humor comes at you from all angles – the outrageous makeup of the characters, the outrageous simplicity of the characters, the silliness of greed that acts as the town’s engine, etc. in this way it is a humor that is reminiscent of dr. strangelove. the score is really great and the main theme perfectly matches the swagger of mifune’s character. of course the cinematography is great, but it’s especially fun to watch when the camera is in gonji’s shop in the middle of the town. at first i thought that a screen wipe from left to right meant mifune was on seibei’s side, and a wipe from right to left meant mifune was on ushitora’s side, but that theory didn’t hold up. i know that there has to be a logic to the wipes, other than to mark a chapter stop, but i haven’t figured it out yet. i didn’t notice any tonal shift, shift in power, or themes that coincided with one wipe over the other. shucks. at any rate, the film is great and you should watch it, again.