Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yuzo Kayama, Reiko Dan
From: Toho
Last night I realized it had been too long since I'd seen any Mifune; as I had watched Yojimbo more than once yet never gave a shot to its companion movie Sanjuro, that is what was viewed on the Criterion Channel.
This is different from Yojimbo and while I do prefer that, Sanjuro is still very good. Old Toshiro plays a disheveled ronin who stumbles upon a small clan who is caught in a sticky wicket of a situation; their master is kidnapped and as they are naive at best and dopey at worst, the title character is a great asset to them-and much of the time he looks bored of it all, tired and appearing to be lackadaisical while actually a quality swordsman and an even wiser tactician. A nice twist is that they all get input from others that also assist them. Sure, there is action but the real draw is not that and neither is many of the characters being on the forgettable side. Rather, it's all the machinations and scheming between the two sides, and Mifune being such an effortless badass.
Sanjuro is simply a fun movie that naturally was filmed expertly by Kurosawa, and had an engrossing story which was much more comedic than Yojimbo, and the funny moments typically worked well for me. It has a solid cast, a catchy score, and an unforgettable ending; while not my favorite it was a mistake on my part to not have watched this much sooner.
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