Yojimbo

Monthly Classics · Kazuo Miyagawa

Friday, March 2, 7 PM

In writing about Akira Kurosawa‘s scruffy samurai classic starring the iconic Toshiro Mifune, preeminent Japanese film historian Donald Richie matter-of-factly states, "Yojimbo is the best-filmed of any of Kurosawa’s pictures." A masterclass in widescreen framing and composition, the black-and-white cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (and second unit cameraman Takao Saito) maximizes the film’s minimal set, mostly consisting of a small town’s dusty main road, with ingenious use of deep focus and wide angle lenses. Hugely influential in style and subject, Yojimbo went on to inspire a number of reworkings, including Sergio Leone’s career-catapulting western A Fistful of Dollars.

1961, 110 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada.

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students / $5 Japan Society members

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