Leslye Headland also cited a direct reference to “Yojimbo,” Kurosawa’s most western samurai film. Sergio Leone remade it shot-for-shot into the spaghetti western “For A Fistful of Dollars” and its influence is evident in characters like Han Solo and in many other parts of the “Star Wars” universe.
In “Yojimbo,” Kurosawa uses the dust and the wind to tell visual elements of the stories, and the streets of the town Toshiro Mifune’s bodyguard character finds himself in are particularly dusty. As the Jedi track down Mae on Olega after her murder of Jedi Master Torbin, they corner her in a dead end that looks like a color version of the set from “Yojimbo,” replete with a dusty street. Just as Kurosawa uses the wind and dust to key us into the emotions of the storytelling, Headland does the same here while telling a character-focused story about a mastery of the Force.
As Master Sol manipulates the Force and fights with Mae, the dirt and dust goes undisturbed. When Yord joins the fight, everything he does in the Force kicks up a considerable amount of dust. Uncontrolled and unrestrained, Mae causes an explosion of the dirt of the street and uses it to escape. This sort of storytelling comes right from Kurosawa and adds a unique layer that will work only subconsciously on most viewers, but is powerful nonetheless.
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