Sanjuro

Kurosawa lovingly spoofs the conventions of the samurai genre in the fast and funny Sanjuro, his made-on-the-quick (but highly regarded) sequel to the hugely popular Yojimbo. Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as the rough-edged ronin Sanjuro, here linking up with nine youthful would-be samurai as they battle corruption in their prefecture and seek to rescue a kidnapped chancellor from the clutches of an evil warlord (the menacing Tatsuya Nakadai). Sanjuro is full of dazzling swordplay and delicious satire, and, in its famed duel-to-the-death finale, climaxes with a shocking geyser of gore. “Sanjuro is the sassy kid brother to Yojimbo, and like many light-hearted younger siblings, it’s underrated . . . Mifune is magnificent — earthy and funny — not far removed from John Belushi’s parody of him on Saturday Night Live. . . Sanjuro has a pleasurable aplomb” (Michael Sragow). “A superb parody . . . That grand splaaaaat at the end is a lethal thrust indeed — straight into the heart of conventional jidai-geki” (Donald Richie). B&W, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 96 mins.