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Kagemusha - Criterion Collection Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki Director: Akira Kurosawa Number of Items: 2 Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 180 minutes Studio: Criterion Collection Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-03-29 Buy from Amazon |
 "Review of Criterion 2-disc DVD edition"KAGEMUSHA is the great 1980 drama involving a clan of 16th-Century Japanese warlords who want to deceive their enemies by having a common thief impersonate their murdered leader. This is a thought-provoking film about reality and illusion, as well as a visually inviting work filled with many striking scenes and compositions that Kurosawa films are known for. A memorable 6-minute opening shot of three identical-looking men, an elaborate dream sequence, and a harrowing montage of the aftermath of the final battle are among some of Kurosawa's finest moments in his long film career. Lead actor Tatsuya Nakadai was only in his 40s when he made KAGEMUSHA, playing a much older man and effectively conveying the guile and conflicted feelings of the imposter. Nakadai would also play the lead role in Kurosawa's next film, RAN, 5 years later, again unrecognizably playing a much older man. Criterion has released the definitive video edition for KAGEMUSHA: a Region-1, 2-disc DVD of the uncut, 180-minute version of film. The anamorphic widescreen video quality is generally very good, except for some occasional graininess. The original Japanese audio is in Dolby Digital 4.0 surround (3 front, and 1 mono rear channels), although surround effects are infrequently used. The best supplement on the disc is Stephen Prince's full-length audio commentary, which, due to the film's length, is able to elaborate on many topics in great details. Much of Prince's narration (I would say half of it) is more on the historical background of the film's period than the filmmaking and art of the film. He compares certain plot details against historical facts to show how Kurosawa uses his artistic license to convey his own ideas. Regarding the film itself, he emphasizes that this is an atypical Kurosawa film in that its hero tries to conform to the prevailing social order, unlike the nonconformist rebels and outcasts in past films such as SEVEN SAMURAI or YOJIMBO. On the film's artistry, he observantly points out that in a film about illusions, many of the key events in the plot are aptly NOT shown on screen. He also provides a great analysis on Kurosawa's most elaborate dream sequence. Prince also does a good job of pointing out the differences between the shortened, 162-min international version and this 180-min uncut version. The longer version does not have "20 minutes of footage involving Kenshin Uesugi", as misreported at IMDB. The added scenes are, in fact, merely short, trimmed scenes and shots that are sprinkled all over the film. They add to the overall continuity, without altering anything in the main plot line. A majority of the added scenes are just too trivial to mention or to even notice. The few noteworthy ones include a much longer montage of the aftermath of the final battle, and a wholly added scene where the fake Shingen is being examined by the Jesuit priest physician -- this scene also has the great Takashi Shimura's only appearance in the film, seen for the first time on this DVD by viewers outside of Japan. For Kurosawa fans, the second best feature on the disc is perhaps the collection of impressionistic paintings by Kurosawa that were later used by him as storyboards for the film. In a 41-minute segment called "Image: Kurosawa's Continuity", hundreds of such paintings are shown, accompanied by sound clips from the films. In a still gallery section called "A Vision Realized", there are about 20 of the paintings placed side by side with still photos from the film. Many of these same paintings are also reprinted on the 45-page booklet that comes with this DVD. The booklet also include 3 wonderful essays. As is usually the case, Criterion took the effort of including different writings that don't duplicate one another. One essay deals with the film itself, its art and its history. Another one is a Sight-and-Sound interview with Kurosawa. The third one covers Kurosawa himself biographically. The disc also comes with a well-made 41-minute making-of documentary that is comprised of mostly interviews, stills, and clips from KAGEMUSHA. It's part of a 2003 series called "Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create" (other episodes of this series are available on Criterion DVDs of IKIRU, THE LOWER DEPTHS, and STRAY DOG). In Japanese with optional English subtitles, it has interview segments of the cast and crew, including Kurosawa, Nakadai, Kota Yui (the child actor, who is now grown up), and others. They recount the challenges they faced, the artistic and technical choices they made, and a few amusing anecdotes. Also included are trailers, a few whiskey commercials Kurosawa made on the set of KAGEMUSHA (other than the monetary reasons for which they were made, there is nothing special about these commercials), and a 20-minute interview segment with George Lucas and Francis Coppola, who praise Kurosawa's genius and lament that the film business often doesn't accommodate non-commercial films, even those by great directors.  "The lower end of Kurosawa works"I love Akira Kurosawa but to be honest, I wasn't impressed at all with this movie. The plot is interesting & builds in excitement until it reaches about 2 hours into the movie & then it becomes exhausting and tedious to watch until the ending battle scene which I thought was disappointing & anticlimactic. The ending battle scene may have been historically accurate but instead Kurosawa should have awarded his viewers with some nice hand to hand combat between Samurai. It's like all those extras weren't put to good use. Pretty much all of the battle scenes in the movie consisted of arquebuses mowing down Samurai. This may have been historically accurate for the time period but it doesn't make for good entertainment. I would much rather see the Samurai hacking off limbs with Naginatas or shooting arrows at each other. The hundreds of extras were not used effectively in my opinion! The plot was fictional, so Kurosawa should have thrown in some fictional battle scenes as well. Unfortunately, the lack of battle scenes also hurts the movie. If I remember correctly, there were about 3. Two very short ones not worth mentioning & then the ending battle scene. Adding at least 2 more battle scenes of good quality would have made the film more watchable. Action has a magical quality of enticing the viewer back into the movie. (especially after long periods without any action) This wasn't used effectively in Kagemusha. The plot is good but it just isn't enough to carry the viewer through the entire movie alone. It needed more action to go with it! On a positive note, the Cinematography is excellent & probably the best I've seen in any Kurosawa movie. Possibly the best in any movie period. That actually disappoints me in a way because the great cinematography could have been much more enjoyable if the battle scenes were of the same quality. But if the lack of Battle scenes doesn't bother you, then you'll probably love this movie. It's rich in color & history. The acting was also very well done & so was the costume design. My opinion is that it's worth a rental to see for the first time & if you like it, then buy it. The DVD version has cool special features. I would also recommend "RAN" or "Chushingura". Chushingura also suffers from the "not enough battle scenes syndrome" as Kagemusha but it's plot is still great & so is the final scene where the 47 ronin raid the castle. "The best of Kurosawa presented in the best presentation ever"I have collected the films of Kurosawa for maybe 20 years. I've seen KAGEMUSHA a dozen times on videotape and laser. I just vIewed this Criterion rendition and really saw it for the first time. Actually I viewed it twice, each time mesmerized. I look forward to seeing it again and again. I saw graphics and character nuances in it I'd never seen in it before. The redone audio snapped alive. The subtitles were clarified, honed and perfected, too. Sure, Criterion costs more. But when you're buying Art like this, it's a tremendous value. Value is defined as what you get for what you give, yes? I have about 90 Criterion releases; in terms of A/V quality, this masterpiece is at the top. I really anticipate Criterion going HD. Meantime, I have this beauty to revisit again and again. Collectors just must collect this disk! "The Definative DVD of Kagemusha"Criterion has done it again! This Kurosawa release is breath taking in its sharpness, sound quality, and ease of reading subtitles which at times can be wrong and to light or dark. These are perfect for those of us that do not understand Japanese. I thought years ago that the Criterion Laser Disc of this film masterpiece was terrific, but wait till you see this GREAT film done as only Criterion can do it on DVD. Order it now, and enjoy it soon.  "Seeing double"The colors in Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" re-emerge bold and saturated on this DVD, with images bordering on hyper-realistic. The 1970s film stock retained a fair amount of grain, but it's rendered harmless by the raging colors. Wear is at a minimum, limited to some speckling and spotting. The film unspools letterboxed at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (with enhancement for 16x9 monitors). The stereo sound is as good as it gets with a foreign film of this age. The taiko drums roll out just like thunder while the rush of hooves fills the listener's room. Stephen Prince, commentator on the Wellspring DVD of "Ran," the director's other color epic, gets the nod again on "Kagemusha." The author of the Kurosawa book "The Warrior's Camera" repeats the feat of lecturing with authority and verve throughout the lengthy feature. Prince points out where most of the cuts were made for the shortened U.S. version of the film, accurately calling the complete presentation found on the Criterion DVD "a richer and more organic presentation." "Kagemusha" works on a surface level as a take on illusion and reality, but those wise enough to dig deeper will need Prince's help. The commentator provides the historical orientation that Kurosawa rushed past, baffling his foreign audiences. Disc 2's extras lead off with exec producers George Lucas and Francis Coppola looking back on Kurosawa and "Kagemusha" in 19 minutes of interviews filmed last year. Kurosawa captured violence in a "poetic surprising way" that schooled the young American directors of the 1970s, Coppola says. "You could trace a line backwards from `The Godfather' to `Bonnie and Clyde' to Kurosawa," he says. The Japanese director "always had a great story to tell," Lucas adds. Some of Kurosawa's 200-some storyboards for the film reappear on the DVD in a split-screen comparison with finished scenes. In a fun extra, Coppola clinks glasses with Kurosawa in an odd TV ad for Suntory whiskey, a pitch clearly ... lost in translation. A 40-minute episode of the Kurosawa documentary series "It's Wonderful to Create" runs down the story of the production, in which the director stunned local fans by firing his popular star, Shintaro Katsu of "Zatoichi" fame. (Katsu dared to bring his own film crew to the set on day 1.) |
