Kagemusha

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Masayuki Yui, Kaori Momoi, Mitsuko Baisho, Takashi Shimura
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, War
1980

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A thief (Tatsuya Nakadai) is hired to serve as a political decoy for a Japanese lord. When the lord dies, the thief reluctantly must continue the charade to protect the clan from warring factions.

Review:

Tim: The more of Akira Kurosawa's films I see, the harder it is to figure out where films fit within his oeuvre. Kurosawa did enormous epics like no one else. Kagemusha is an expertly crafted film, another powerful epic that confounds the mind with its scale and scope. It features some especially strong performances. This movie is a triumph, a success, no doubt about it. The one caveat for me is that I think it might fall just below the "greatness" threshold. It gets so close and could be argued either way, but I'd put this film on a tier below the greatest Kurosawa films.

What makes this film feel unique is the focus on a double- a petty thief who bears an uncanny resemblance to a Japanese daimyo, Lord Shingen. When Shingen is mortally wounded, his dying wish is for his clan to cover up his death for three years, to protect his realm. This is obviously not easily done, thrusting this thief into an incredibly challenging situation. As the movie progresses, we see how this thief is changed by assuming this role. We watch as Shingen's advisors work desperately to keep the ruse a secret. We watch as Shingen's enemies try desperately to determine whether Shingen is alive or dead. There's a great deal in this film, as you'd expect from a film that is 3 hours long (I know IMDb and others have listed it at 2:42, but the version I watched was a full 3). It's so impressive how Kurosawa is able to weave these different stories together to show multiple perspectives of this epic story. While this story is good, there were some issues I had with it. First, Kurosawa certainly could have sped things up. The film lingers in far too many places. This movie should have been significantly shorter. Secondly, I wasn't always sold on the story. So much of the drama takes place where different parties are trying to discover whether Shingen is alive or dead, but the film doesn't do a good enough job of explaining why this is so critical. I'm assuming Shingen was a brilliant military strategist and without his leadership, the clan would crumble. I'm not entirely convinced of this, though. It feels like a ton of effort for something that didn't necessarily mean his forces would be a pushover when the enemy attacks. Sure, his troops might be disheartened, but it felt like the movie could have done a better job of convincing us why all this subterfuge was absolutely necessary. There's a lot of subplots throughout this movie, too. They give the film a sense of scale and scope, but they aren't always as effective as needed. We spend a good amount of time with the spies watching the proceedings, but it feels like that doesn't quite pay off appropriately. I also thought Shingen's son (passed over as heir) could have had more focus on him. Still, these issues are minor, as this is still an especially good film.

I loved the performance of Tatsuya Nakadai. I was amazed to learn he wasn't the first choice and had to step in after the original lead had a falling out with Kurosawa. Nakadai gives a tremendous performance, both as Shingen and the double. He's so convincing, I wasn't entirely sure he was the same actor. I had to look it up. Throughout the course of the film, Nakadai endears this kagemusha to us. We see his transformation, and it's powerful. His performance held my attention and it's one of the chief reasons I liked the film so much. Tsutomu Yamazazki gives a strong performance as Shingen's brother. His steady portrayal of this character anchors the movie in a lot of ways. Ken'ichi Hagiawara doesn't quite get enough screen time as Shingen's son, but he works well in the role. The rest of the cast is immense, far too big to go into specific detail here.

I did want to talk about a few specific scenes. I thought it was interesting that the standout sequence for me wasn't one of the battles, but a dream sequence the double has. Kurosawa crafts a near-perfect sequence. The dreamlike, phantasmagorical sequence is stunning. The cinematography, Nakadai's acting, it's all superb. It's without doubt one of the greatest dream sequences I've ever seen. I absolutely loved it. On the other hand, the battles felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying to me. This is another reason why I dropped this film below "great". You can contrast this with the battles in Ran, which Kurosawa directed five years later. The climactic battle there feels like a worthy payoff to everything that came before it. It's exciting, intense, epic. The battle here (which recreated the actual 1575 Battle of Nagashino) feels a bit underwhelming. It feels predetermined, inevitable. Kurosawa doesn't show nearly enough of the sequence- we see the beginning and the aftermath, but skimps on the actual battle part (or massacre, more appropriately). This felt a tad disappointing to me.

Despite some flaws, Kagemusha is an especially strong epic. It's another success for Akira Kurosawa, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest directors of all time. It's a long movie (as most of his are), but it tells a powerful story that feels unique. I had a good time watching this film and it's one I'll long remember.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Ran, Throne of Blood