- Ed note: For the next several weeks, composer and film aficionado Lewis Saul has agreed to supply us with in-depth commentary about the films of Akira Kurosawa, now showing in an extended festival at the Film Forum. Even if you're unable to stop by the Forum, we think Lew's insights will deepen your appreciation of these important movies.
PLAYED February 3rd at The Film Forum
This is Kurosawa's 21st film.
It would be logical to assume that Kurosawa put this film together after the incredible success of Yojimbo [1961]. But it would not be true.
A samurai hero who uses his "brains more than his sword" (Galbraith, p. 324).
Along with regulars Hideo Oguni and Ryûzô Kikushima, Kurosawa had started to work on a screenplay (based on a story by Shûgorô Yamamoto -- Hibi Heian ["A Break in the Tranquillity"]) -- with such a character before shooting on Yojimbo began. Kurosawa wanted his friend Hiromichi Horikawa to direct, but Toho -- who must have sensed an awesome Criterion double-DVD -- insisted that Kurosawa direct.
The main difference between the two films is this: Yojimbo was set in a dusty town in the middle of nowhere where lawlessness ruled, whereas this film is set in a "castle town" -- that is, a world of lords and ladies, superintendents and chamberlains, young samurai retainers and ... of course, our hero, Sanjuro! (There is a fun debate on the IMDb about whether this film is a sequel or a prequel! To me, it seems to take place during an earlier time period than the one shown in Yojimbo.) However,
" ... it doesn't really matter. One of the most important things about adventure stories with a hero who isn't tied down, is that he can be reinvented with each new episode. If, though, one is going to play this game of figuring out which story comes first, then in my opinion, the deepening of Sanjuro's character that we see in this film suggests that its story is subsequent to the one in Yojimbo" [SP].
To my way of thinking, Galbraith nails it: the theme of this film is quite simple -- nothing is what it seems [p. 324]. Mutsuta, the chamberlain (Yûnosuke Itô) is ugly -- but he's the good guy; the handsome Hanbei Muroto (Tatsuya Nakadai) is the villain. The confident boy samurai are incompetent while the scruffy Sanjuro is a master. Et cetera. The theme drives the plot and the three writers made the character much more active than originally written and created a scenario which is -- at times -- very very funny.
The new DVD:
- All new, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Optional Dolby Digital 3.0 soundtrack, preserving the original Perspecta simulated stereo effects
- Audio commentary by film historian and Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince [SP, below]
- A 35-minute documentary on the making of Sanjuro, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
- Theatrical trailer and teaser
- Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragnow and notes from Kurosawa and his cast and crew
Like its sibling, this booklet is really packed with fantastic stories -- by Kurosawa himself, and important cast members. My favorite is by Keiju Kobayashi, the actor who plays "the spy in the closet."
"Remember the scene where word comes that the rival samurai have left their mansion, and I join the young samurai in their dance of glee? Then they all stop and look at me in surprise, so I nod as if to say, 'Well, gotta go,' and duck back in the closet. The fact is, none of that was in the script. I came up with it on the spot, and Kurosawa let me run with it.
The script reads, 'One of the guards (me) is struck so hard in the solar plexus by the butt of Sanjuro's sword that his whole body is propelled into the air.' Well, I was new to the Kurosawa gang, so Mifune went out of his way to prepare me for what was about to happen. 'Sorry,' he said, 'but I'm going to have to really hit you. Otherwise it won't work.' I wrapped a protective plate of the kind women wear under their obis around my belly and waited. And, boy, did Mifune hit me! Knocked me head over heels next to the pond. We rehearsed this scene a number of times. Each time, I would end up all muddy, and each time the wardrobe people would wash and iron my hakama for the next run-through. Then someone would shout, 'Test!' and I'd go flying into the mud once again. I thought that maybe they'd let me use a second costume to speed things up, but that was out of the question. It had to be the real thing.
Did you know that we went to the recording studio to do the voice recording in full costume? We even wore our swords! No one could see us, of course, but it helped us get back in the mood" [DVD booklet, pp. 12-13].
Too lengthy to reproduce here, Teruyo Nogami's reminiscences are priceless -- particularly her stories about painting all the camelias and the final duel.
- Masaru Satô turns in another gem of a score! Listen to the general tone of the introduction going into the familiar "Yojimbo theme" -- one can feel something more serious, perhaps more sinister, in the air ... jingling marimbas and the constant sound of the hyoshigi clapping ... in a way, the score mirrors Kurosawa's intention to deceive, sounding faux-heroic fanfares and the like.
- 0:02:24. The hyoshigi signals a triple axial cut into the shrine where nine young samurai are gathered. We see them reacting to something (they all sit back slightly and look sad) as the camera is still outside.
- All nine samurai are visible in this amazing shot. With the help of some dialogue at 0:55:06, I can identify five of the nine characters/actors as follows, from left to right:
- 1) Hirose (Yoshio Tsuchiya)
- 2) (I think) Terada (Akihiko Hirata, tons of film but this is his only work with AK)
- 3) Sekiguchi (Tatsuyoshi Ehara) [he will play Dr. Tsugawa in Akahige (Red Beard) {1965}]
- 4) ?
- 5) (with his back to the camera) Iiro Izaka, the "leader" (Yûzô Kayama) [Kayama became a huge star, but -- like Mifune -- always said that he was most proud of the work he did with AK, particularly his starring role in Red Beard]
- 6) ? (8th in the circle, but 6th as photographed)
- 7) ?
- 8) Kawahara (Hiroshi Tachikawa)
- 9) Yasukawa (Kunie Tanaka)
- That leaves Morishima (Tatsuhiko Hari, his only film appearance, ever!); Morishima, the younger brother (Akira Kubo, who appeared in Kumonosu-jo [Throne of Blood] {1957} as Miki's son. I suspect he might be #6); and Yata (Kenzo Matsui, like Hari, his only film appearance, ever!) Any help in identification is appreciated.
- Beginning here and ending with Mifune's entrance, I offer a brief analysis of what I think of as "filmic rhythm." Notice the length of each cut and the type of composition which creates this kinetic movie motion in 100 seconds:
- 0:02:31. Now inside (90º from previous axis), a three-shot of 1-5-2 (Hirose, Izaka and ?). (seven seconds);
- 0:02:38. Another 90º -- all nine, facing Izaka. (15 seconds);
- 0:02:53. Now about 45º more, but in tighter -- on a 6-shot (half with backs to the camera) (nine seconds);
- 0:03:02. Five-shot. (two seconds);
- 0:03:04. CU on Izaka (three seconds);
- 0:03:07. Three-shot (reactions). (one second);
- 0:03:08. Same as 0:02:38, all nine. (also exactly 15 seconds!);
- 0:03:23. Five-shot reaction (Izaka is #4, back to camera) (one second);
- 0:03:24. CU on Izaka (two seconds);
- 0:03:26. New five-shot reaction (three seconds);
- 0:03:29. CU Izaka, as he now switches to speaking about Kikui, the superintendent (Masao Shimizu) (six seconds);
- 0:03:35. All nine. ("What did he say?") (one second);
- 0:03:36. CU Izaka, all smiles. (three seconds);
- 0:03:39. Three-shot with Yasukawa in the center. (one second);
- 0:03:40. Back to Izaka. (four seconds);
- 0:03:44. Three-shot, very close, Sekiguchi in center (one second);
- 0:03:45. Izaka (three seconds);
- 0:03:48. Three-shot, Sekiguchi smiling broadly (one second);
- 0:03:49. Izaka. (one second);
- 0:03:50. Three-shot, everyone laughs. (one second);
- 0:03:51. Back to the original nine-shot (0:02:38) (six seconds);
- 0:03:57. CU Izaka (..."there you have it.") (two seconds);
- 0:03:59. Five-shot, Izaka #2, back to camera, as Yasukawa talks about the "scarecrow" (nine seconds);
- 0:04:08. Completely new camera position, relatively tight shot which somehow fits all nine into the frame. (Talk about a movie made for the wide-screen format!) They are all laughing. Sanjuro yawns. (seven seconds);
- 0:04:15. Big axial cut in -- the samurai are alarmed.
- The entire scene is designed to show the samurai -- individually and as a group -- as confident young men who understand exactly what is going on ... just the opposite of what we will learn to be true.
- Also, note how Kurosawa never moved the camera at all in the first scene -- he only cut from one static shot to another. Now he moves the camera slightly from time to time as we follow Mifune throughout this next scene. Variety.
- 0:04:30. Establishing his look, his sandals tucked inside his kimono, while he uses his arm to scratch himself occasionally. Mifune is astonishing. Take a viewing someday and watch him closely for 96 minutes.
- 0:05:26. Yasukawa gives us an early hint of his opposition towards Sanjuro here.
- 0:06:35. And again: "What does a worthless ronin know?"
- 0:07:43. Up until now, Sanjuro has been pretty laid back about the kids' story -- but here he immediately realizes the danger! Kurosawa emphasizes this with a cool ECU on Mifune.
- 0:08:54. However, after peeking out and seeing that they are surrounded, Sanjuro seems quite amused.
- 0:11:12. Sanjuro fights the superintendent's men with his sword sheathed the entire time against men who are using the blades ... he beats them all impressively.
- 0:11:55. Look who sneaks into the frame, right beside Hanbei Muroto -- Yutaka Sada (uncredited).
- 0:12:46. Not sure if this qualifies as "mickey-mousing" but it is a beautiful job of orchestrating a scene! And do you remember the "floor board" scenes in Yojimbo?
- 0:12:56. After the wipe, the boys bow deeply to Sanjuro. He asks for some money and prepares to leave. "Abayo," ("bye") he says. The deep bow, the abayo -- all will be paralleled in the end ...
- 0:17:00. An alternate version of this scene can be scene on the trailer for the original 1999 Criterion DVD Spine #53
(left) --instead of " ... like a centipede" Sanjuro says " ... like goldfish dung." This is an amazing shot, no matter which line Mifune uses -- the ten of them fill the entire frame.
- 0:19:31. The group dynamic is explosive. The young samurai -- although certainly grateful to Sanjuro for everything he has done up until this moment -- are not thrilled with his attitude and the casual way that he speaks about the "old lady," etc. Yasukawa tentatively takes the lead and approaches Sanjuro. Notice that all nine samurai are perfectly framed!
- 0:19:42. A jump cut that breaks every rule in the book, it would seem! The camera is now underneath a wooden cart, peering up at Sanjuro and all nine samurai through the openings of the cart! A magnificent shot.
- 0:21:13. "Were you born in the Year of the Ox? You always fly off the handle," Sanjuro says to Yasukawa.
- 0:21:37. The faux-heroic fanfare, and the fast cutting on running samurai -- an ironic self-homage to Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) [1954]? Ironic, because these guys are far from heroic. Especially because of the score, I get a strong feeling of parody here.
- 0:25:28. The rescue is over in eight seconds!
- Takako Irie (Mutsuta's wife) was a huge star in the 20's and 30's -- Kurosawa worked with her when he was still a young assistant director for Kajirô Yamamoto. Her scenes with Mifune are delicious.
- 0:28:57. A memorable scene: "Killing people is a bad habit." Irie delivers the line to Mifune who -- cut, CU -- looks as if his mother just scolded him!
- 0:29:07. A CU on Irie shows her blackened teeth -- ohaguro -- as she speaks about how Sanjuro "glistens too brightly" and how he is "like a sword without a sheath." Of all the characters in the film, she affects Sanjuro the most and he is humbled by her.
- 0:29:58. Mifune stuffs straw into Kobayashi's mouth -- I wonder how many takes the poor man had to endure?
- 0:31:01. Note the frame within the frame and the chirping of the nightingale. The sound of this particular bird is something Kurosawa has used since his earliest films (remember how the porter even comments on them at the beginning of Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi [The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail] {1945}) to the important wedding scene in Akahige (Red Beard) [1965] ...
- 0:31:47.
- Sanjuro: "Got any sake?"
- Yasukawa:"This is no time for drinking. We need to plan our next steps."
- Sanjuro: "I'm smarter when I drink."
- A nice call-back to the same scene in Yojimbo ...
- 0:33:37. The "what-is-your-name?" scene. The dialogue is virtually identical to its twin scene in Yojimbo -- except instead of kuwabatake (mulberry field) he sees tsubaki (camelias). The joke about thirty (sanjuro) going on forty is the same in both versions.
- Kurosawa really caresses this version -- the scene really takes its time. As usual, Sanjuro sees the camelias before we do -- but when we see them, Kurosawa treats us to a nice axial cut, before returning us to the group setting for the punch line.
- Of the six people in the room, only one does not laugh at all -- Yasukawa (who truly hates Sanjuro!)
- 0:35:10. A (loudly) falling camelia introduces two more bad guys -- Kurofuji (Takashi Shimura) and Takebayashi (Kamatari Fujiwara).
- One by one, others join the discussion, which let's us in on who thinks they know what ...
- 0:35:53. Like Kikui, who enters here just after Takebayashi comments about he's been screwing up!
- 0:36:29. Muroto sticks his head in the box-shaped frame, bowing to Kikui, his boss.
- 0:36:32. Sanjuro has a plate of rice balls in front of him. Four pages of IMDb chatter about how delicious they look (they do!) and recipes, etc.
- 0:36:57. Lots of back and forth between the bad guys ...
- 0:37:32. the boy samurai (and Sanjuro munching rice balls) ... they hear the "emergency drum" ...
- 0:38:25. Back to the bad guys. "It's part of our plan." Muroto shuts the door to the right and Kurosawa wipes left!
- 0:41:24. Satô's score is wonderful here (yet another bolero -- hear the drums imitating Ravel?) -- jaunty, sarcastic and that funny mock-heroic, which he creates by infusing the yojimbo theme into the cue.
- 0:42:07. Here begins one of the funniest sequences in the film, as Sanjuro tries to take a nap, but the boys keep interrupting him. Kurosawa wipes furiously throughout.
- 0:58:26. Muroto hits the boy samurais with the butt end of the sheath of his sword, perhaps even his short sword, temporarily knocking them out, as Sanjuro does with Izaka.
- 1:01:18. This parallels the Yojimbo scene where Sanjuro kills the ten guards of Nui. Here he only kills three, but it looks equally heroic! Also, note the slashing and crunching sounds in the mix which are more realistic than those in Yojimbo.
- 1:03:19. The joke is on the viewer who watched the previous scene and thought, "only three?" Here he kills at least twenty.
- 1:13:00. Again AK cuts back and forth between the samurai and the bad guys as the plot moves towards its conclusion ...
- 1:13:50. Sanjuro is tracing a kanji character on a wall-hanging with his fingers. I wish I knew what it was.
- 1:14:50. The spy in the closet realizes the crucial fact about the temple. Satô's cue here really accentuates the nervousness.
- 1:15:13. This is a real shot in the dark. If we are looking at the same frame, you should see Mifune and Nakadai in center frame, Mifune facing right, Nakadai facing left. Now look at the spearmen seated, just to the left of Nakadai. The guy in the front row closest to the camera looks an awful lot like Hideji Ôtaki. He had just begun his acting career (most of his great roles have come late in life -- he was 55 when he appeared in Kagemusha [The Double/Shadow Warrior] {1980}).
- 1:16:31. Another beautiful frame within a frame! Remember, almost everything in these two films occurs from Sanjuro's POV, so the director would naturally show Sanjuro, then show the action across the way. But Kurosawa emphasizes the POV by framing it this way. I'm sure there are earlier examples, but the first I can recall is several scenes in Renoir's 1938 masterpiece La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion) (which is Criterion Spine #1 and is about to go OOP [out-of-print]!!)
- 1:16:39. Hear the alto flute? Really amps up the tension here ...
- 1:17:45. Check out the face-acting between Mifune and Nakadai here -- brilliant! Muroto no longer just suspects something -- he knows!
- 1:18:32. My readers surely recall my disgust with Kurosawa when he interferes with his composers (see Akahige [Red Beard] {1965} for the most egregious example!) ... and I'm sure both of you agree that this is an excellent moment where just the opposite occurs! Satô's music expresses everything that dialogue could not. And -- as you read above -- contrary to what most people think, Kurosawa did allow his actors to improvise on occasion, as Kobayashi does here.
- 1:19:54. It could be that he's just not hungry after all those rice balls, but unlike Terada -- who previously was said to have confessed to drinking Kurofuji's water -- Sanjuro will not eat his food!
- 1:20:24. What an interesting shot! The blade of the sword enters the frame here and we do not see its owner until
- 1:20:31. Seven seconds of suspense!
- 1:20:53. Fujiwara finally gets to play his big moment of surprise as he realizes the temple has no second floor. Try to remember this look when you see him again the very next year (1963) as a scrawny, filthy garbage collector in Tengoku to jigoku (High and Low).
- Shimura, too, probably never opened his eyes as widely as he does here!
- 1:22:02. Sanjuro waits until Muroto leaves to spin his final deception. He realizes he can trap Kurofuji and Takebayashi -- but that Muroto might very well see through it as this point. In point of fact, if you look at the whole thing logically, Muroto should have beheaded Sanjuro by this point. There would have been none of that 20th century "make him talk" stuff ... just cut his head off!
- 1:25:00. Be sure to read the camelia stories! Every single one of them is fake and hand-painted!
- 1:25:23. Satô's cue as the camelias float down the stream is extremely beautiful! Just a dry xylophone/glockenspiel strike (twice) followed by a simple soft dominant seventh chord ... then the big "Sanjuro theme" as the boys rush out and Mutsuta's wife says, "how beautiful" (the flowers vs. the war)
- 1:26:02. I love the way Shimura surrenders!
- 1:26:04. Kurosawa loves codas. This one is 96 seconds and is somewhat curious. The story is over, but Kurosawa wants us to take a leisurely look at the different reactions to the situation by Kikui and Muroto.
- The initial establishing shot is epic in scope ~ the horses thunder by (camera at ground level), followed by many extras playing spearmen and infantry.
- After the gate is opened, notice how the camera cranes up to catch all the action as the women mass together at the entrance.
- Kikui and Muroto exchange worried glances as they dismount ~ Kurosawa nicely uses an axial cut to show Muroto reaction (cut) and then the rock with the ropes cut.
- Through the wire mesh, Kurofuji and Takebayashi look pretty sad. (great shot!)
- Again, Muroto glances at the cut ropes. This time AK uses the axial cut to come closer to him so that we can really see his expression!
- He leaves; Kikui sinks to his knees and -- in a gorgeous parallel to 0:35:10 -- a camelia (loudly) falls into the stream!
- Notice the rock with the ropes on the left as the camera tracks the lone camelia.
- 1:27:40. We have only a few moments left in the film -- yet we are just now meeting an important character -- the chamberlain, Mutsuta!
- 1:27:48. "This one's late!" he says, pointing to Sanjuro's empty place setting. Hopefully the non-Japanese audience gets the fact that feudalism meant that a ronin such as Sanjuro would have automatically been expected to join the clan (most ronin would have been overjoyed at the opportunity!)
- 1:28:48. Mutsuta -- who seems like a pretty nice guy -- explains what would have happened to the three traitors under the best of circumstances: losing their name, their clan, their land and property, etc. This is much more realistic than when you see films from this period where the "good guy" frees the slaves and introduces democracy to the clan.
- 1:29:25. The "horse face" story is really funny and Itô is terrific.
- 1:31:00. This one-second cut is one of the prettiest in the film. Mutsuta is saying how Sanjuro would not want to be confined by joining the clan and points to the clan kimono, obi and fan -- here seen in ECU. Very pretty.
- 1:32:38. "No matter what, you all stay out of this!" he yells to the boys. They prepare to duel. Complete stillness for 36 seconds until
- 1:33:14. You can read so much about this moment, but let me just offer up this much:
- Nakadai was all wired up and knew only that "something" was going to happen. Kurosawa wanted his reactions to be as absolutely spontaneous as possible.
- For six seconds, he cuts three separate reaction inserts showing all nine samurai in three groups of three! (My favorite reaction is Kunie Tanaka [Yasukawa], who looks as if he's thinking, "man that was so cool!").
- Again, less is more from the composer. Just a burst of (mostly, I think) electronic sound after the actual sound of the slash/spurt.
- 1:34:22. One last magnificent brilliant composition: Sanjuro looks down at the dead Muroto. The boys all back up in horror --
- 1:34:27. -- "he was just like me" -- notice the incredible blocking! -- five on Mifune's left and four on his right. You can watch this cut ten times and follow each character's facial expressions!
- 1:35:04. "Stop following me or I'll kill you!" Notice the tender music cue underneath his gruff harumphing!
- Abayo!
- There are 21 wipes in this film, all horizontal (16l/5r)
- Interesting to compare to Yojimbo, where the ratio was 9l/15r)!
