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Saturday, Jul 22, 2017
8:15 PM (110 mins)
SOLD OUT
BAMPFA -
Wednesday, Aug 2, 2017
7 PM (110 mins)
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BAMPFA
SUBJECTS
Yojimbo
(The Bodyguard)
BAMPFA Student Committee Pick
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Introduction
Steven Okazaki is an Academy Award–winning Bay Area filmmaker and the director of Mifune: The Last Samurai. Note: Okazaki introduces the July 22 screening only.
Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono, Kamatari Fujiwara, Takashi Shimura,
In one of his best-known roles, Toshiro Mifune plays the boisterous, bullying, amoral ronin (masterless samurai) who calls himself simply Sanjuro (“Thirty Years Old”). When Sanjuro wanders into a town terrorized by an ongoing war between two factions, he decides to make a fistful of ryo—and have a little fun—by cleaning up the place. Hiring himself first to one group, then the other, he eventually encourages them to kill each other off. Alluding to Japan’s own “gold rush” in the passing from feudal to capitalist society, Yojimbo was inspired by the American Western and combines its best elements—a remarkable authenticity, finely drawn characters, brilliant comedy, superb editing, and exquisite widescreen cinematography (by Kazuo Miyagawa). Kurosawa makes extensive and surprising use of the telephoto lens, so that the most violent swordfights take on a rare intimacy, and the heroic/antiheroic figure of Sanjuro seems to expand absurdly to epic proportions.
FILM DETAILS
Screenwriter
- Akira Kurosawa
- Ryuzo Kikushima
Cinematographer
- Kazuo Miyagawa
Language
- Japanese
- with English subtitles
Print Info
- B&W
- 'Scope 35mm
- 110 mins
Source
- Janus Films
CINEFILES
CineFiles is an online database of BAMPFA's extensive collection of documentation covering world cinema, past and present.
View Yojimbo documents
At the movies (article), London Review of Books, Michael Wood, 2007
Kurosawa and Mifune (program note), Cinematheque Ontario/a division of Toronto International Film Festival Group, James Quandt, 2002
Kurosawa & Mifune (program note), Film Forum (New York), 2002
Yojimbo (program note), Toronto International Film Festival, Lawrence Kasdan, 1999
Akira Kurosawa (article), American Film, Gerald Peary, 1989
Yojimbo (program note), Toronto Film Society, Marcia Gillespie, 1980
Yojimbo (review), L.A. Weekly, 1980
Japanese film directors -- excerpt (book excerpt), Japan Society, Audie Bock, 1978
The waves at Genji's door -- excerpt (book excerpt), Pantheon Books, Joan Mellen, 1976
The films of Akira Kurosawa (press release), Pacific Film Archive, 1974
Displaying 10 of 31 publicly available documents.