Yesterday I went to UVU to watch Yojimbo. Their foreign film club (or something like that) was having a screening, but only 8 or 10 people showed up. It was kind of sad. Nice theater, awesome movie, and nobody there to see it.
The movie itself was freakin awesome. If you don't know Toshiro Mifune, you need to find some of his movies and watch. Yojimbo is a good place to start.
It tells a great story (that will seem very familiar to Clint Eastwood fans who saw Fistful of Dollars) about a Samurai who drifts into a town torn apart by rival families. Toshiro Mifune plays this man with no name, who is called various things including Sanjuro ("Thirtysomething"), Yojimbo ("Bodyguard") and "that two-bit Samurai". Anyway, whatever you call him, he decides to help clean up the town by getting the two sides to kill each other.
I think my favorite part of this movie (along with other Samurai movies) is that there is no real boss inflation, and the Hero and Evil Boss aren't elevated to superhuman status for their final showdown. They're still just people. There's lots of build up and sharpening their claws, but once the actual fight starts, the two run at each other and one of them sticks his sword in the other guy. Then the other guy dies. There's something beautiful about that simplicity. No Die Hard-esque villain resurrection, just a good guy vs a bad guy.
Well, I'm tired of rambling about this movie. Go watch it. It's playing in a couple weeks on the International Film Channel if you have it.
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3 comments:
Will we like it? It sounds like Dad
might enjoy it.
Mom
That's really two questions. As for Dad, I think that it might be too slow. Maybe not. I've never seen Dad as a subtitles type, but I could be wrong. I think it was really fun, and if he were in a slow movie mood he would really enjoy it. If nothing else, he would probably like the Clint Eastwood version. But you may want to try out the real thing.
Regarding whether you will like it or not, I think you could at least tolerate it. Since it's an old black and white, it's not as gory as you might think (given that it's about people who kill each other with swords). There's some chocolate-syrup style blood, but nothing bad. You may even like it- the hero is very fun and his themesong is great.
Dad doesn't like the sound of the Japanese they speak in the old samurai movies. He thinks it's harsh. Which is true.
I love this movie, but I think it's not for everyone. As with sumo wrestling, there's a long, slow buildup to ratchet up the tension. And then sudden bursts of violence, that are over almost as soon as they start. The tempo is very different from the tempo of an American action movie. But I love it.
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