Review of Yojimbo (1961) by Chris B — 21 Jan 2014

Most films need several minutes of screen time to establish a narrative style and begin to tell a story. After watching these first few pivotal moments of a film, the viewer can make some assumptions of what the film style and plot will be. These assumptions ultimately reveal the mood of the film. Styles can shift throughout a film and moods may go in different directions, but they generally establish a clear message of what the director intends to express. Yojimbo is a well-known samurai film by Akira Kursoawa. The film follows a ronin, a wandering samurai, who comes to a village and fools both sides of two feuding gangs into destroying each other so that peace will prevail in the town. I will be examining Kurosawa's visual style, narrative style and distinctive editing and explaining how his technique enhances the film quality. While I will be focusing on these three aspects, I will also be taking into account the characters, story and the themes that the film present to its viewers.

The visual style is a way of putting the director's vision onto film and conveying it to the audience. Kurosawa's films have a few things in common such as central themes, similar central characters, and star many of the same actors in his films. Yojimbo concluded a decade of samurai filmmaking in the 1950s and it became typical to expect this type of work from Kurosawa during this time period. Even more predictable was the casting of Toshiro Mifune as the main character (Sesonske). Toshiro Mifune starred in Yojimbo as Sanjuro and was featured in sixteen of Kurosawa's films. Kurosawa hand selected Mifune apart from all of the other hopeful actors because he had such an innate powerful and rough demeanor. This same persona shines through each character he embodies and truly exemplifies a traditional samurai.

With one of his primary actors secured and established, Kurosawa was ready to incorporate his time and talents into breathing life into characters and stories of which he filmed in a distinctly Western style. Kurosawa was known to have an appreciation of John Ford's films and shooting style. While not original to samurai films, the director wanted to incorporate the same ruggedness and lawlessness of Westerns into his works. He mimicked Ford by utilizing his wide-open space settings, filming through various objects in the scene such as doors or windows, and using wide-angled shots. Upon first glance, these shots may seem very reminiscent of Western films, but, in fact, take place in ancient Japan instead of the Wild West. Though the physical setting is different, the use of these wide shots conveys the odds at which Mifune is up against, as well as fully emphasizing the space that the characters are filling. Peter Pashall proclaims, "Kurosawa is a very individualistic director, however, who does not adhere to the ideological conventions of his culture" (Parshall 275). This may also be a reason as to why Kurosawa's films tended to be more popular in the West than in his native country of Japan who put great emphasis on maintaining traditions.

Kurosawa paved the way for Sergio Leone's Western film, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) starring Clint Eastwood in the title role. The inspiration had come full-circle when Leone directed A Fist Full of Dollars to precisely mimic Kurosawa's Western-based, Yojimbo . Being the original, however, Yojimbo has much more substance and establishes itself as its own distinct effort and not a copy of a previously made film. Between Kurosawa's direction, cinematographer Kazao Miyagawa's work, and the powerful performance of Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro, the film ranked high on a multitude of levels. Yojimbo does a great job of portraying both sides of the gang and each of their intentions as well as Sanjuro and his motives which become clear as the film progresses. While the film remains distinctly Japanese it does stick to a more classically formed narrative which involves a problem, conflict that comes about because of this problem and finally the problem being overcome and conquered. Peter Parshall describes the film by stating, "Although Americans might tend to think of samurai as representing heroic individuals, the samurai in this film, as in Japanese culture generally, are honored for self-discipline and self-sacrifice through which they triumph over weakness and personal inclination" (Parshall 275). This unique cultural prospective shows the viewer a more complex and meaningful look into the intentions of the main protagonist, Sanjuro, and his quest.

Kurosawa is able to add just enough humor, including lighthearted moments to balance the film's more serious and intense scenes without making the film too lighthearted. The film works with just enough to keep the plot moving along and the character of Sanjuro's ambitious plan coming to life and shaping into his ultimate goal. He does this for himself but more importantly to bring peace to the violent and dangerous town and resolve the film's main conflict. He is hardly the classical clean cut hero but instead a rough and rugged character who is more human, with all the flaws that it carries, but is in the end what audiences would consider the "good guy". There is no supernatural or otherworldly element in the story but we are given a protagonist that is very skilled with a sword and just as importantly, is resourceful and decisive in his actions.

The editing in the film is another critically important element. Kurosawa's editing techniques grew more skillful as his works progressed; adding to the Yomjimbo's message, not interrupting it. Keiko McDonald notes that, "At the very beginning of Yojimbo Kurosawa establishes the temporal setting of the film by the use of the subtitle: 'The time was 1860...the emergence of middle-class merchants put an end to the power of the Tokugawa Shogunate...'" (McDonald 188). The film, while being in black and white, and before CGI became the norm, is much more simplistic. With the lack of technology, directors and cinematographers had to have even more skill in order to realize their ambitions. Subtitles were often used as a way of establishing a setting, leaving no room for misrepresentation. It's in the film's best interest that the editing techniques advance the story while showcasing the varying groups and characters current situation as well as their interactions with one another. In the case of Yomjimbo, if the viewer were to solely focus on one gang, or Sanjuro, and then transition over to another, the complexity of the situation and the realistic back and forth between the opposing elements would be completely lost.. Instead we are given many transitions between the two with each event or information being spread around to the other and it creates a more fluid and complex film.

The editing ensures a temporal and spatial continuity that advances the story while conserving the emotional buildup through the film and come to resent the warring sides and support Sanjuro and his quest to trick the two sides. This is essential as the flow of the film is dictated by the editing techniques used and the sequences order and arrangement in the running time of the film. If you were to view a different scene first instead of in its placement within the film we would disturb the director/editor's, in this case both were done by Kurosawa, intention and throw off the particular rhythm of the film's progression.

There are many aspects that are involved in making a film and while there are many different roles to fill in order to bring a motion picture together. Iit's the director who ensures the right people are in these roles. Over Kurosawa's career he developed great relationships and worked closely with a select few people on a regular basis. For this reason, many of his films and the works that were produced, including Yojimbo, have warranted praise as pieces of art. We have looked at a few elements that were paramount in bringing Kurosawa's vision to life in his film Yojimbo and what made him really stand out as a director and as a true artist. The film Yojimbo is simply Kurosawa's decades of film making and refining of his craft put into a motion picture with a complex and interesting plot and distinctly unique characters. The world they live in may be of a different time and place, even a whole other culture than ours, but it's our relatable feelings with the struggles of daily life that make us really feel for the under privileged and resent the power seeking corrupt. It's these basic elements that really pull in the film's audience and lend a layer of emotional correlation between the viewer and those in the film. Together, with the great cast and crew, a director is truly able to forge an admirable work of art.