Film: Yojimbo
February 23, 1999
Film: Yojimbo
Director: Akira Kurosawa. (1961, 110 min.)
With Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono, Kamatari Fujiwara, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Tatsuya Nakadai, and Daisuke Kato
Miller Theatre, Columbia University (116th St. & Broadway) 6:00 PM
Kurosawa’s darkly humorous film is a biting satire on greed, violence, and human weakness. A wandering samurai-for-hire turns a feud between two merchant families to his own advantage. One of the most popular Japanese films in international release, Yojimbo inspired Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (starring Clint Eastwood) and the genre of “spaghetti-Westerns” that followed. Since Yojimbo was itself inspired by American westerns, Kurosawa was not at all surprised by this “reverse imitation.”
Film: The Bad Sleep Well (Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru)
Director: Akira Kurosawa. (1960, 151 min.)
With Toshiro Mifune, Takeshi Kato, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, Kyoko Kagawa
Miller Theatre, Columbia University (116th St. & Broadway) 8:30 PM
In Kurosawa’s powerful commentary on corruption in big business, a young man takes revenge for his father’s murder on powerful corporate and political leaders. Kurosawa’s fascination with the plays of Shakespeare resulted in powerful adaptations of Macbeth (Throne of Blood) and King Lear (Ran). In this film, the parallels with Hamlet are clear, but Kurosawa sets his mythic drama in the boardrooms of 20th-century Japan.
Part of “Kurosawa Remembered” Film Series
