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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

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.5 "Not as good as Ran, but what is?" If Akira Kurosawa had not made Ran, Kagemusha would probably have been considered his last great film. However, not only is Ran so incredibly good - one of Kurosawa's best, if not one of the best films of all time - it also deals with the same time period and uses some of the same techniques and actors as Kagemusha, but all in a better and more sophisticated way. But I digress. Kagemusha is based upon a real story in 16th century Japan about a clan whose leader had a double or shadow warrior ('Kagemusha') and which was wiped out in a battle with another clan. Kurosawa focuses on the double and his attempts at acting as Lord Shingen for three years: both the original Lord and the double are played by Tatsuya Nakadai ('Yojimbo,' 'Ran') in a masterful performance. Indeed, the double's experience as the Lord is really the heart of the film, not the battles or clan rivalries per se. As in many Kurosawa films, class plays a subtle yet important role: the double was a thief who now must impersonate a Lord, and ironies abound thoughout the film (but especially at the end) about the way the double is in many ways more noble than the original Lord. Besides class there is another subtext to the film, namely the construction of identity itself: in perhaps the best scene of the film, the double has a very scary dream near the end where he is confronted with the original Lord - perfectly embodying the double's doubts about his own identity. As for the basics of the film, the viewer can hardly be dissapointed. The cinematography was spectacular - the battle scenes of course, but also many beautifully constructed scenes near or on the sea as well. Kurosawa's use of traditional Japanese instruments, especially the drum in the final battle scene is awesome, and the costumes and art direction were outstanding. The only serious fault with Kagemusha is its length: it could have been cut by a good 20 minutes and not lost anything. Yet that is really the only criticism I have here - all the rest is great. See it. "Great and impressive, like a Mountain, but still moving" Kurosawa at his best. When i stumbled over this movie, many years ago, I wasn't aware, that Kurosawa was so deep and important. I loved "Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo" and expected "Kagemusha" to be another cool Samurai flick with action and subtle humor. But this Masterpiece made me have a closer look upon Akira Kurosawa, and I found a whole line of exceptional Films. After experiencing Kagemusha, I wanted to see all the other great films made by Kurosawa, one of the best movie makers ever. Today, I watch the movie once a year and still find things i haven't noticed before, things that only a genius like Kurosawa could have placed into a movie. The Titel "Kagemusha" means Shadow of the Warrior. The story takes place in the later 16th century. The Clan Daymios are fighting each other to gain control over the Country. Among them, the legendary Takeda Shingen. One day, he is shot by an enemy sniper and about to die. To prevent the fall of his house, he commands his most loyal man to keep his dead a secret for three years. To make the plan work, a perfect looking Double, a commoner, a thief, is taking over the representative role in public. From this day on, the thief lives as a shadow, a shadow without a body to follow. More and more, he learn about loyality and respect. He finds joy again in existence and becomes more and more the body, he should be the shadow of. But a shadow is nothing without a body... All in all, this is not only a great story, a great visual joy, but also a momentum of japanese society and military, and a melancholic view of mans nature. If you can stand three hours of good movie, this one is for you. I only wish it would be available on DVD... When does a compilation-box of Kurosawa movies appear on dvd? I just can't wait! "Wish I had waited...." for the DVD. Great movie but poor VHS quality. Very grainy. Hope the DVD cleans it up. "samurai epic" Kurosawa's best, shame about the vid quality/length. check out Ran and Throne of Blood, also pretty good. if you like japan in the middle ages - harder to find but just as good, kanet Shindo's 'Onibaba'. "A supreme tale of the warrior mentality" When Kurosawa made this film he was 70 years old and it stands without question as one of his best films. What makes it so powerful is the portrayal of the perfect fusion of the warrior's emotional intensity with intellectual acuity. Both emotion and intellect are focused solely, in this film, on enemy warlords outwitting each other and that focus is so strong that it more than carries the film through its 2 1/2 hour length. In fact, so strong is the focus that the hapless title character (the shadow warrior)--a common thief who is a perfect lookalike for a mighty warlord, who recruits the thief and is then used by the warlord's retainers as a stand-in after the warlord's death--himself ultimately takes on the psychology of a warrior. And this is true even after he is dismissed from service, after the ordained three years of his deception as the warlord have passed. Nowhere else in film has the psychology of the warrior been portrayed so sharply, with so much focus, with so much depth--not even in other Kurosawa films, although Seven Samurai is the sine qua non of samurai films. Yet here, in Kagemusha, we see the workings of the minds on both sides, whereas Seven Samurai's power comes from its depiction of how samurais use their intelligence to fight and outwit a completely insubstantial enemy--that is, the bandits, who are never shown up close or presented as anything other than marauding forces. Kagemusha will never be equalled in its portrayal of the intensity of the warrior spirit. Add to that the astounding vision of a filmmaker who knows more than any other how, where, and why a battle scene's power is derived. As well, there is perfect production design, costuming, and set pieces. There is the obvious attention to detail in capturing the entire world of feudal Japan. All of these together make for a film so riveting, so well done, it is impossible to say anything bad about the film. It just can't be done. This is a must see for all serious students of film, and for all those who love a great adventure, and for all those who just flat out love movies. It's perfect.