Kagemusha

Movie Review: Kagemusha

Year of Release: 1980
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu

Plot outline: When a powerful warlord dies, a thief is recruited to impersonate him (IMDb).

Kagemusha is another entry in Kurosawa's decades-long string of samurai movies. Although not without its problems in pacing and stiffness, it is better than some of his more famous movies, such as Yojimbo. It is also not up to the level of his best work, such as Throne of Blood, Ran and The Seven Samurai. The story is familiar, and yet unique. The warlord Shingen is mortally wounded while besieging a fortress. His dying wish is that his dynasty continue. This is accomplished by using an impersonator, Kagemusha (Tatsuya Nakadai), who is a thief with humble ancestry. Kagemusha serves as Shingen's stand-in for three years, improving morale and even helping to win battles. The most impressive aspect of Kagemusha is its cinematography, costumes and sets. Many scenes have waves of soldiers clad in armor and carrying banners, set against the sun and the countryside. Kurosawa gets even more from the battlefield images by judicious use of composer Shinichiro Ikebe's score. Outstanding cinematography and convincing sets and costumes are a familiar hallmark for Kurosawa throughout his career. Many scenes, however, are lengthy and static. People sit in a room and talk, and move so infrequently that it is sometimes difficult to tell which character is talking. It is true, however, that this criticism has to be diluted by putting it in a context of cultural differences and expectations. Western audiences want action from their war movies, and may have less appreciation for character depth and development. Nonetheless, the movie improves markedly whenever Shingen's young grandson Takemaru (Kota Yui) is on camera. Takemaru's energy, enthusiasm, and honesty of expression provides a stark contrast to the cynical and circumspect adult men that fill most of the movie's roles. Kagemusha is forced to subjugate his honest and emotive natural personality in order to impersonate Shingen. He can only be himself around Takemaru, who is eager to see him as something other than a stern monolith. (BK)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars