Samurai-flick meets spaghetti-western in this exciting comedy from (the brilliant) Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshiro Mifune) is one of the most bad ass and fearless ronins (masterless samurai) in all of old Japan. The only trouble is he's totally broke. So when he discovers a small town completely overrun by murderous outlaws, torn by gang civil war, and tainted by gambling and prostitution, Sanjuro decides he might be able to make an easy buck by trying to bring an end to all the vice. Mostly by way of killing off all the criminals in town, the majority of which are complete idiots.
This movie is gonna blow your mind. In just the comical use of violence alone, Yojimbo is decades ahead of its time. I kept feeling like I recognized shots from a Tarantino film or jokes from a Coen brothers movie. The soundtrack adds a theatrical and somewhat goofy attitude to the film's style, making even the most disturbing images seem harmlessly humorous. The aesthetic is flawless; a perfectly balanced composition of black and white (just check out the screen shots) with thoughtful and graceful camera movement that keeps you in the action constantly. Without a doubt one of my favorite films of all time, made by my favorite filmmaker. Definitely a must-see.
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