Just as many American studio-era directors found acclaim abroad that was denied them in their home country, by 1980 Akira Kurosawa's reputation outside Japan exceeded his esteem at home. As uncompromising as ever, he found considerable difficulty securing backing for his ambitious projects. Unsure he would be able to film it, the director, an aspiring artist before he entered filmmaking, converted Kagemusha into a series of paintings, and it was partly on the basis of these that he won the
financial support of longtime admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Set in the 16th century, when powerful warlords competed for control of Japan, it offers an examination of the nature of political power and the slipperiness of identity. For some time, Shingen Takeda Tatsuya Nakadai has been able to stay removed from the heat of battle by using his brother Nobukado Tsutomu Yamazaki as a double. As the film opens, Nobukado offers another option, having discovered a condemned thief (also played by Tatsuya Nakadai) bearing an uncanny resemblance to the warlord. After he insists on witnessing the fall of an enemy in person, Shingen falls victim to a sniper's bullet, forcing his advisers to present the thief as the fallen warrior. At first awkward in his new position and plagued by dreams in which the spirit of his double confronts him, he slowly grows into the role even as his enemies begin to advance on his kingdom. The winner of the Palm D'Or at Cannes, Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior has also been released as The Double. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi
Kurosawa's autumnal return to form is a tad too calculated to stand shoulder with Rashomon (or Ran), but Criterion's Blu-ray at least presents its pageantry in the best possible light.
At worst, the film is an empty vessel that places blind trust in affected stillness and symmetry... the movie quite often switches on a dime to more deep and meaningful textures.
while normally a film's storyboards are of only the most marginal interest, those produced for Kagemusha are works of art in themselves, produced in exquisite watercolour by Kurosawa
Though not as overall impressive as his next picture Ran, Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa's return to the epic Samurai film deservedly received Oscar nominations for its great pictorial beauty and other production values.
One of Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces (everything he made is such), Kagemusha is one of his first forays into the world of color. The film looks like a living painting with very broad and rich colors everywhere, making the film unique from his other work - despite delving into the samurai world once again. The film is
beautiful to watch, the story is interesting and the ending is absolutely gut-wrenching. Unfortunately, I found the characters to be confusing at times since a lot of them are intended to look alike. I also think there are some moments that are much longer and slow-moving than they need to be. Other than those gripes, Kagemusha is another impressive work in a long line of impressive works from one of cinema's great masters.
November 28, 2011
Tim Salmons
Super Reviewer
14/07/2010 (DVD)A little confusing at times but when you start realizing who is who then it starts getting good.Luckily there was a commentary option for audio so when it came to a part that lost me I just took it back a bit and allowed the commentary to explain things a little more so I could understand what was going
on.It's a little draggy but I liked it anyway. A decent watch.
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