I finally managed to watch Yojimbo on Friday afternoon, which means that I’m about three class sessions behind with blog posts. Argh.
Aesthetically, this film is nearly perfect. Lots of attention was obviously given to shot composition and lighting. (As should be the case in any movie, but–sadly–isn’t always.) The music was also an element that immediately caught my attention. It was an interesting mix of dramatic movie soundtrack-type music and traditional Japanese musical elements and instruments.
The comical aspects of this film seemed much more intentional than those in The Glass Key. It was fairly clear when Kurosawa was trying to get a laugh out of the audience and when he wanted it to be taken seriously. This wasn’t nearly as clear in the earlier version of The Glass Key that we watched. (Half the time we were laughing, it was at the unbelievable corniness of the film.) These observations can probably be extended to the film in general–Yojimbo was far more polished than its earlier counterpart. This is the difference between “classic film” and “genre film” as discussed in class on Friday. Yojimbo takes its role as a film and a work of creative expression more seriously than The Glass Key, which seemed mainly a conglomeration of elements geared towards attracting the indiscriminating masses.
The only criticism I have of Yojimbo (and it’s a very small one) is its occasional inconsistency with Japanese culture and behavioral and speech conventions. Of course, I’m not claiming to be an authority on Japanese history and customs, but I speak the language *relatively* fluently, having studied Japanese language and culture for four years in high school. The thing that struck me most about the characters in this movie was that they seemed a little too Americanized. Yes, it is essentially a western, but that doesn’t mean that they had to pick up the conventions of American film acting. Many of the characters were rude or tactless in a way that would be culturally unacceptable in Japan, especially at that point in history. The fact that most of these characters are outlaws may explain some of this disregard for subtlety, but I think it was exaggerated to an unncecessary degree. It was just a little too dramatic, and one thing that I really admire about Japanese cinema in general is the deftness with which meaning is delivered–not much is said, and facial expressions tend to be relatively closed. However, even this attribute (which we would consider lack of emotion) can in itself provide the viewer with far more–and deeper–insight into the characters. Perhaps Kurosawa, catering to both the artistically-minded and the masses, expected that the majority of his audience would have lacked the patience for this kind of observation and analysis. Or maybe he simply wanted to shock Japanese audiences with the brutality and social roughness of his characters.
After all, he is the only director I know who can get away with at least seven wipe transitions in one film without it seeming even slightly corny.
As far as its value as an adaptation goes, Yojimbo is a fairly loose version of The Glass Key. There is no clear Paul Madvig character. Kurosawa seems to have infused Sanjuro with nearly every aspect of Ned Beaumont’s personality without copying any of the other plot details, with the exception of the kidnapping and beating scene. He’s thrust Sanjuro/Ned into various situations, then had him act according to his literary personality. Kurosawa did a much better job of capturing Ned in Sanjuro than in the older version of The Glass Key. So while the earlier version is slightly more faithful to the book’s original plot, Sanjuro in Yojimbo is a more accurate portrayal of Ned Beaumont.
Finally, I’m afraid I have to agree with several of the class members on the issue of Inokichi and Sanjuro. He obviously has a bit of a crush on Sanjuro. But do we blame him? ;)