Yojimbo (1961)

I recently, finally, got round to watching Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985). Although the film is epic in every respect, Kurosawa’s clever Shakespeare adaptation intertwining stunning battle sequences around a story of family betrayal and civil war left me a little cold with regards to the characters. I felt it wasn’t on the same level as Seven Samurai (1954). This is not a problem I had with Yojimbo. Kurosawa’s blend of black comedy and violent confrontation takes the time to slowly introduce the key figures in between the bouts of violence. Sanjuro Kuwabatake’s Ronin arrives in a town ravaged by two local gangs fighting for supremacy of the turf. He tries to play one side off against the other, both of whom are desperate to defeat to the other. If the film sounds like Sergio Leone’s A Fistful Of Dollars (1964), that’s because it essentially is, right down to coffin jokes made early in the film. Kurosawa was not overly happy with the similarities Leone’s film seemingly had, although both films certainly stand up on their own merit, Yojimbo and Kurosawa definitely have a point. Yojimbo is beautifully shot in black and white; there are some truly brilliant individual shots throughout the film, which seem to grab the essence of the film in a single shot on several occasions. Shooting in black and white makes the film seem more violent as well; there are several deaths that feel a lot more effective than if they’d been shot in colour. Kurosawa has pulled off another Samurai spaghetti western epic, and although he might not appreciate that description, Yojimbo is a very good addition to his already impressive canon. I look forward to continuing working my way through his back catalogue. 7.9/10