Yojimbo (1961) Review

Yojimbo (1961) Review

By Chongchen Saelee

“Yojimbo” is my second favorite Akira Kurosawa film after “Seven Samurai”. Yojimbo means bodyguard in Japanese. It may seem like star Toshiro Mifune is playing the same nameless archetype, but they are indeed two different characters. In “Yojimbo”, Mifune plays a nameless wandering ronin (a masterless samurai) who is pushing 40 years old and stone broke looking for odd jobs or killing men for rice and sake. He wanders into a small village where two rivals gangs are fighting for control over the silk and sake productions.

The movie opens with the nameless ronin wandering aimlessly, he even picks up a branch and tosses it and whichever direction it points to is where he’s going. Along the way, he spots a young man arguing with his father about wanting to become a “gambler” because they make money, drink sake and dress in nice silk. He wants to live it up and die young, not live at home and work on a farm eating porridge, against his father’s wishes. In movie storytelling, it’s a small useless scene… or is it?

After a sniveling crooked constable (the equivalent of the town sheriff) alerts him how to make some quick ryo (money in ancient Japan), he goes to meet up with a local big shot. When asked what his name is, being nameless, he peers out into an open field of mulberry grass and names himself after it as “Kuwabatake Sanjuro” or Sanjuro for short.

I enjoy these Kurosawa samurai films because they really do seem “authentic” in the sense that the characters’ motivations seem right for their environment. All these men ever care about is money and power, in this case, their money comes from production of sake, silk, and prostitution. The crooked “gamblers” are willing to hire bandits and other villains to control all of it through intimidation and violence. Meanwhile, the local noblemen are just as crooked, who have a monopoly on the female prostitutes, who conspire to hire Sanjuro to slay their enemies, but plan on killing him and taking back their money. So when Sanjuro eavesdrops and learns of the double-cross, he knows he can’t trust any side. He plans to have them massacre each other out.

Unfortunately, after having a soft spot watching a young boy cry for his prostitute mother during a hostage exchange between the two gangs, Sanjuro sets out to free her and unite her with her family. There’s a real tragedy to the entire prostitution depiction. Kurosawa makes sure you see how horribly these women are treated by their Madame and are only treated as property. You could lose your wife if you gamble too much and lose, especially if she is too beautiful. If you had an ugly wife and lost at gambling, you’d only lose a house. This plan ultimately gets bongled when the gangs find out he was the one who set them all out. Sanjuro then gets his ass whup and makes a daring escape literally crawling to freedom. Of course, they took his sword.

With the help of the restaurant owner, Sanjuro is able to escape to the countryside to recover and train. The old restaurant owner gives Sanjuro a dagger just in case. Upon finding out the gang has kidnapped the old restaurant owner, Sanjuro sets out to confront the remaining surviving gangsters for one last battle. The old casketmaker gives Sanjuro a dead man’s sword, which apparently is taboo, but useful anyway.

At the end, Sanjuro dices up all the bad guys and the cowardly mayor finally gathers up the mad courage to confront the gangster that “stole” his village and title.

And if you paid attention from the opening moments, you might spot the same young man who had run away from his father wanting to be a “gambler”, now begging for his mommy as Sanjuro is about to dice him up. That’s why there’s that dialogue to remind you, Sanjuro tells the young gangster to run home to his mommy and enjoy a long life eating porridge. Full circle storytelling!

Then Sanjuro just saunters off like a boss looking for another adventure.

I can’t hit on every archetype or trope here, but there are A LOT. And every actor has such amazing distinctive look and performance, almost cartoon-like. The camera work is excellent, framed too perfection with crystal sharp long focal depth. There is little confusion is what Kurosawa wants you to see, when he wants you to see it. The story isn’t even that complex. The music is charming, even if it’s some gruelsome violent imagery going on. It’s as if Kurosawa is saying “look at how crazy and violent people live!” and not necessarily condoning it. After all, the most skilled killer of them all did it for good… and just walks away like it was just another day to him. LOL. Crazy!

*SIDENOTE: IT’S A BLACK AND WHITE FILM. I know there be haterz out there who might want to only watch new ultra high-def color movies only.

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