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Yojimbo: Cinema's Greatest Protagonist

Analyzes how Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune construct a protagonist who manipulates both sides of a conflict for his own reasons, and how the film's framing keeps his true motives ambiguous.

Bushido Blues · 10 min · Intermediate · THY · Film Theory · 2018

What you take away

Keep a protagonist's true motive slightly ambiguous through framing and withheld dialogue to sustain interest.

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