Thematic Music in Yojimbo- Jane Maberry

 

    So I loved everything about Yojimbo. I'm already a huge fan of westerns, so getting to see the style of these types of movies achieved in a different setting or format is always neat. The setting, the allusions to American westerns, the causal attitude of the protagonist. But one my favorite parts was how well the music completed the movie. In this films we watched prior to this, if there was a score, it often matched well with each scene and the overall theme of the movie in a general way, but not much more beyond that. In Yojimbo I really felt the connection between the score and the characters, and how much more specific and deliberate the music felt in regards to what was happening in each scene. It expanded beyond something that was just an overlay, like in I Was Born, But..., and beyond just reflecting the mood of the scene. The two moments in the score that stood out the most to me were the recurring theme and final confrontation at the end of the movie. 

    The movie already starts out with a very lighthearted tone, but it's when Sanjuro first walks into town that this light hearted air shifts into something almost goofy. It's a feeling that stays with us the rest of the movie and helps to establish Sanjuros' motivations and attitude. The score swings rapidly between slow, serious horns, and a bright xylophone that undercuts the solemnity of what's happening. Beyond the scene itself though, this melody appears often, and I think that it serves as a sort of theme for Sanjuro. As a samurai, he comes across as a serious, reserved man, which he partly is at times and when fighting, but the rest of the time he's irreverent towards the happens around him. 

    The music at the end of the movie stands out because of how derailed it feels in contrast to the rest. While the music with the xylophone felt somewhat unrestrained, the music at the final battle was barely on time in places, and felt completely random in others. A tapping metronome sound is setting a beat, but the high hat that overlays it doesn't fit its tempo. Their individual tempos were just close enough that they lined up at times, but not enough that there were sections where it was blatant. It makes the scene much more tense, but it's also somewhat confusing because I don't know why they would choose to have music that's so blatantly off rhythm. I could understand it in the context of wanting the scene to feel more tense and put the audience of balance, which feels strange because the plot of the movie is relatively straightforward. I never really has any doubts about what the outcome of this battle was going to be, so hearing this music almost made me doubt myself a little bit. 

    The score to this movie stood out to me because of how unusual it felt. I was constantly surprised by the types of instruments used and the tone they set. It was majestic and silly but never really beautiful, which fits the general tone of the movie. Every time I was lured into a sense of security by the knowledge of this genre, the score threw me off and upended my expectations. Which I think is part of what makes this such a good movie; it still fits into the stereotypical western style of cowboy movies, but there's enough unusual things like the score that make it unique.