Sanjuro

Original title: Tsubaki Sanjûrô

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

43K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Photos89

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Mutsuta's wife (portrayed by Takako Iris) is shown to have blackened teeth. This was a customary Japanese way of signifying that a woman was married, especially fashionable with courtiers in the Imperial Court. This practice is known as ohaguro.

Goofs
The three enemies who surrender are kept in a room with chicken wire / poultry mesh stretched across the door. This was invented in England in 1844 and did not exist in the era or place depicted in the film.

Quotes
Mutsuta's wife: You glisten too brightly.
Sanjûrô Tsubaki: Glisten?
Mutsuta's wife: Yes. Like a drawn sword.
Sanjûrô Tsubaki: A drawn sword?
Mutsuta's wife: You're like a sword without a sheath. You cut well, but the best sword is kept in its sheath.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: Alpha Dog/Arthur and the Invisibles/Seraphim Falls/Catch and Release/Alone with Her (2007)

User reviews104

Featured review

The master in a lighter mode

Sanjuro is not one of Kurosawa's great films, but it shows him relaxed and having fun, deconstructing the jidai-geki (samurai film) genre with tongue firmly in cheek.

The film lacks the meticulous visual style of Yojimbo, but it is very well photographed, with some extremely fluid cinematography and those effortlessly artful group compositions that only Kurosawa seems to be able to do. The plot is a little exposition-heavy, but it's always swift-moving and never comes close to taking itself seriously.

Watching Toshiro slice apart all those enemies in the various battle scenes with nary a bloodstain in sight, I did find myself wishing the folks at Toho had sprung for a few squibs. But all is set right in the brilliant final swordfight, which is worth the price of admission.