A site called Akira Kurosawa News and Information linked to my last entry about film directors Kurosawa and Ed Wood, and writer Vili Maunula agreed with the connection I made between these two diverse talents. You can check out the link below to see what he had to say.

Interestingly, although I've seen Kurosawa's samurai classic Yojimbo a number of times, I watched it for a similar reason to why I viewed the Ed Wood films the other night. As I said yesterday, I've been a little down in the dumps about things, and I used the Wood films as a cinematic "comfort food" distraction. I also watched Yojimbo to pick up my spirits.

The basic plot of Yojimbo is how Sanjuro, a wandering, masterless samurai played by Toshiro Mifune, comes into a lawless town and cunningly sets two factions of gamblers against one another. Mifune is magnificent fun to watch from the very first frame when, underneath the credits and accompanied by the striking soundtrack music, he scratches and saunters his way into the story. Just watching the opening minutes helped lift my gloom.

Gruff in manner, but with a heart of gold, Sanjuro works less for money (although he needs it) and more for the simple virtuoso indulgence of his skills both as a manipulator of fools and as a master swordsman. He gets the gamblers' heads spinning with his sly bargaining to work first as one group's bodyguard (yojimbo), and then the other's. But he's not invulnerable, and at one point even they get him scratching his head when they momentarily befuddle him with a move of their own. Towards the end of the picture, a slight miscalculation with a thank-you note from a beleaguered family ends up getting Sanjuro the beating of his life. And this pummeling leads to the image that spurred me to watch the film this time.

When I face adversity both big and small, I like to think of Sanjuro overcoming his. Smashed to a pulp by a giant thug in the employ of one of the gamblers, Sanjuro recovers his samurai timing while sitting in an isolated hut. The camera shows a leaf blowing through the hut, and then suddenly a knife nails it to the wooden floorboards. Sanjuro pulls the knife out, the leaf blows around the room again, and then he throws the knife and nails the leaf once more. That striking image represents to me the regaining of strength after defeat, and it's given me comfort at various times. A few years ago when I had to do some physical therapy because of an injury to my hand, I kept thinking of it. When my sister Jenny had to undergo a very intense treatment for her cancer last year, I thought of it. The leaf blowing across the floor, and the knife nailing it down. Strength returns.

Of course, Yojimbo is a great movie for many reasons. Its mix of action and comedy, of poignance and cruelty, make it one of Kurosawa's most memorable films. Mifune is just about the coolest guy in the whole world in this movie, and I loved when in the early 70s he got to team up with Charles Bronson in the East-meets-West western Red Sun, a very enjoyable action film in its own way. Mifune and Bronson made a great team.

But it's that leaf blowing across the floor in Yojimbo that's like a visual mantra to me. Keep throwing the blade, keep doing the right thing, and eventually your aim will be true again.

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