Sanjuro

This is the sequel to 'Yojimbo'. Toshirô Mifune returns as the wandering ronin Sanjûrô Tsubaki. He encounters nine naive samurai who wants to confront corruption. One of the samurai had confronted his uncle the lord with the accusations. The response was dissatisfying so he tells the superintendent. The superintendent tells the nephew to gather his men. The ronin immediately smells a trap, and the corrupt superintendent launches a raid on the group. Only the ronin's smarts saves the group. Now the uncle and his family are taken prisoner and the ronin endeavors to rescue them with the help of the nine naive samurai. Only the clueless nine are sometimes more problematic with their distrust of the often napping ronin.

This is a funnier movie than Yojimbo. Sanjuro does battle more with his brains than with his sword. The best swords are kept in their sheaths. However there is that great scene of drawing of the swords at the end. The guy imprisoned in the closet has a good funny scene. It's a very good sequel to Yojimbo with a funnier tone.

Akira Kurosawa is probably the best Director in the entire History of film-making. He has not been that prolific given the amount of time he has spent making films, but many of these have subsequently been remade - Seven Samurai became the magnificent seven. Yoijimbo (the prequel to this one) became A fistful of dollars - and more recently last man standing. The hidden Fortress became Star Wars. Sanjuro marked the return of Toshiro Mifune as the Sardonic Ronin from Yoijimbo. Yet again, the photography is excellent - the period costumes and buildings beautiful to look at even in black and white. From one of the first scenes, in the grounds outside the Shrine, Mifune shows a 500% improvement in the art of Kenjutso - he must have been practicing night and day! But it is the character of Sanjuro itself that makes the film so absorbing. He is on the surface, a dirty, disrespectful abrasive man - but his deeds portray him as a hero - someone who once was a shining example of a Samurai and despite being put through the ringer still holds to a deeply rooted code of honor. When this shows however, he is most anxious to cover it up again..... The film involves a power struggle within a small city in Japan between the old faction and the new power-hungry one. It deals with false perceptions and truth. Two of the tenets that are at the heart of Kurosawa's films. This is a Gem - rent it - if you can, Buy it!

Leadership. Sanjuro is able to lead men because he appears confident, and is confident. His presence subjugates men, as a man's presence subjugates boys. We see here how a group comes to have a leader. First one man stands out against him, the competitor for leadership, but Sanjuro's intuition and actions put him ahead. There is a beautiful marked difference between Sanjuro and the men. He is the lazy quiet tiger, seemingly passive yet containing an immense power - a tightly drawn bow. The men are barking puppies, energy spilling over, but to no good end.

Kurosawa presents a couple challenges to the viewer. THere is a terrible absurdity in the killing of all these men, for it becomes quiet clear with the symbol of the prisoner, that the average soldier is a frightened herd animal, not good or evil, but cowardly. Sanjuro recognizes this but has no choice, for he wants to live, and so must kill. Thus he must even kill the young men who he helps, when they foolishly come after him. The prisoner is won over by the old lady - so we see an almost christian ethic. In the tensions of the film one feels that the people, riled up by lies to fight for the enemy, quickly become targets of the just young men's swords - luckily it does not come to this, but one recognizes the horrible possibility and inevitability of such a struggle. Thus we are faced with a critic of war - men, scared like cattle battle under the flag of corrupt leaders, and those that may love them must kill them, if they are not to die by sword, or become slaves to tyrants.

"stupid friends are worse than enemies" For you know who your enemies are, and that they wish to destroy you.

In Sanjuro we also see the soldier, so long in battle that he is unable to live a normal life. He can not wear the house kimoto, he is to bound up in fighting - he is samuri, warrior, and he cannot escape this, much as Achilles cannot return home to Pthia. And we sense Sanjuro must whilt in the easy domestic life, for his is the road of struggle. The pleasant scent of the straw in the barn, the pretty camillias are still able to touch him, but he cannot enjoy them; he is a soldier, and therefore his sensitivities must yeild to the demands of war.

We see only one man worthy standing with Sanjuro, and that is the uncle, the chamberlain, the horseface. These to stand out as burning stars against a massive black sky - the rest is horrifying; the chaos of tyranical men and the fear crazed soldiers, their supplicants.

Sanuro, the sequel (or prequel, more likely a sequel though) to Akira Kurosawa's 1961 classic Yojimbo, brings us Toshiro Mifune to one of his most memorable characters, as he helps out (begrudgingly but, for the audience, funny way of help) with a group of would-be samurai trying to fight a corrupt man trying to gain power. With this film, Kurosawa delivers if not more than the same amount of violence (with one of his finest scenes of which towards the very end), and Mifune along with co-stars are believable and make for an entertaining ride. For those who are not familiar with Kurosawa and look to start, this and Yojimbo are the best starting points.

But to say that it is not one of Kurosawa's very best is not entirely a dis-service to him. One flaw for me was that the story was not very clear on the first viewing, or at least as clear as what I'm used to from him (then again, the samurai genre is one I've only started to dig into). But a second viewing brought it clearer, and was even more suspenseful and amusing. That it is not as satirical (or perhaps it is) than what I had heard is not a minus however. The best that can be said that it is highly watchable, and could grow on those looking for a samurai film with more based on character than on immediate, flowing blood-shed and carnage. The least that can be said is that it does not compromise artistry and thoughtfulness for mediocrity. Grade: A

An excellent sequel to Yojimbo.

I can't quite decide which one is better. I think I enjoyed this one just a tiny bit more.

Toshiro Mifune really is one of he most badass actors of all time