Yojimbo

« The entrance of hell, I will be waiting for you there » A classic movie that inspired movies like A Fistful of Dollars and many of other classics. It’s the story of a nameless ronin who enter a village where there is two gangs fighting each others, he decide to make money by becoming the bodyguard of both gangs. Sanjuro (the ronin) is a quiet and stoic character, always moving slowly and around the town, while the gangs are like he called them « fools » always moving around. Akira Kurosawa did an incredible job of visual telling, just by the way the camera is always shaking and moving around Sanjuro, just to make the viewer feel how calm is Sanjuro. I think my favourite aspect about Kurosawa movies is the narration. There is no unnecessary shots of dialogue, everything is here to develop the story or add something, even the long quiet shots are here to make you feel a specific emotion. SPOILER: I think my favourite scene is the moment where Sanjuro is sitting above everyone and enjoying the entertainment of the two gangs trying to kill each other. This scenes shows both sides getting closer to each other, but they’re all dead afraid of fighting. Sanjuro character inspired a lot of today’s badass characters, without this movie there would probably be no action movies like today.