KAGEMUSHA Movie Review
The Shadow Warrior
The Double
When a 16th-century warlord is killed during a period of civil wars, the warlord's clan settles on the idea of replacing him with a double in order to prevent chaos and ruin. A petty thief is found who bears an astounding resemblance to the fallen leader, and he is groomed for the difficult job of fooling both the enemy and the warlord's own family. Akira Kurosawa's magnificent Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) marked a welcome return to form for the great director, who had completed only two relatively minor works in the previous decade. Kagemusha features spectacular battle sequences and the epic visual power that had been lacking in his films for so long; it's also an intensely engaging film on a human level. The thief at first envisions his situation as the opportunity to perform a huge con and live in luxury; later, as he becomes accustomed to his role and position, he assumes not only the trappings of a leader but the soul as well. The thief becomes the warrior, and is no longer playing a part; it is, in a sense, what great acting is about. It is also a brilliantly telescoped parable of what the responsibility of leadership can bring out even in the most seemingly irresponsible, as Prince Hal pointed out to the devastated Falstaff. This Shakespearean dimension is not accidental; Kurosawa's next film would be a masterpiece based on Shakespeare's King Lear: Ran. Kagemusha features a stunning performance by Tatsuya Nakadai in the dual roles of the thief and the warlord. If the film has a major failing, it is the overbearing, sentimental musical score by Shinichiro Ikebe, who replaced the brilliant composer Masaru Sato after Sato crossed paths with the intractable director. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
NEXT STOP … Generale Della Rovere, To Be or Not to Be (1942), Ran
1980 (PG) 160m/C JP Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Hideji Otaki; D: Akira Kurosawa; W: Akira Kurosawa, Masato Ide; C: Kazuo Miyagawa, Masaharu Ueda; M: Shinichiro Ikebe. British Academy Awards '80: Best Director (Kurosawa); Cannes Film Festival '80: Best Film; Cesar Awards '81: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards '80: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Foreign-Language Film. VHS, IV, Letterbox FOX