Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15774 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-06-03
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 153 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1970s were difficult years for the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Having been unable to secure full Japanese backing for his epic project Kagemusha, the 70-year-old master found American support from George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, who served as co-executive producers (through 20th Century Fox) for this magnificent 1980 production--to that date the most expensive film in Japanese history. Set in the late-16th century, Kagemusha centres on the Takeda clan, one of three warlord clans battling for control of Japan at the end of the feudal period. When their leader Lord Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai) is mortally wounded in battle, he orders that his death be kept secret and that his "kagemusha"--or "shadow warrior"--take his place for a period of three years to prevent clan disruption and enemy takeover. The identical double is a petty thief (also played by Nakadai) spared from execution due to his uncanny resemblance to Lord Shingen--but his true identity cannot prevent the tides of fate from rising over the Takeda clan in a climactic scene of battlefield devastation. Through stunning visuals and meticulous attention to every physical and stylistic detail, Kurosawa made a film that restored his status as Japan's greatest filmmaker, and the success of Kagemusha enabled the director to make his 1985 masterpiece, Ran. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
Produced by George Lucas and Frnacis Ford Coppola, the samurai film Kagemusha is set in the 16th Century feudal Japan and centres on the power struggle between the powerful warlord Shingen Takeda (Tatsuya Nakadai) and teo rival clans. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, this emotionally touching and philosophical story won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.

Product Details
Feature Running time: 152 minutes
Language: English
Subtitles: Hard of hearing English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish.
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (16x9)
Sound Quality: Japanese 4.0 Stero 2.0 Mono

Synopsis
In this dazzling epic from Akira Kurosawa, a petty thief named Kagemusha (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets saved from a death sentence because he resembles the warlord Shingen Takeda (also Nakadai). The warlord has been fighting two other leaders for control of 16th-century Japan and impersonators often take his place during battles to put him out of harm's way. Because of Kagemusha's strong physical similarities to the warlord, he's a perfect choice for a "shadow warrior." However, the arrangement suddenly changes when Shingen gets fatally wounded while watching a battle. Adhering to Shingen's final wish, the warlord's men keep the death a secret, and Kagemusha struggles to transform himself from a criminal into a leader.
KAGEMUSHA marked a welcome return for the legendary director, who had not made a movie since 1974. Nakadai, a supporting player in earlier Kurosawa films, expertly portrays the leading role(s), almost always filled in the past by Toshiro Mifune. KAGEMUSHA also features the final screen appearance of longtime Kurosawa actor, Takashi Shimura. In order to help the film get an international release, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas served as executive producers.

Customer Reviews

Great film, average DVD
Kurosawa’s 1980 samurai epic is much more than a dry run for his Shakespearean epic “Ran”. In its own right it is filmmaking on a vast canvas, documenting the downfall of the Takeda clan in 16th century Japan. The title refers to the double who takes the place of the warlord Takeda Shingen when the latter dies. The film then becomes concerned with the nature of identity, as the double learns to adapt to the role of the warlord, and reality and illusion merge.

Fans of the kinetic energy of Kurosawa’s classic black-and-white pictures must have been surprised by the opening shot – the camera doesn’t move once for the whole six-minute scene. In fact, the mostly static camera is a feature of Kurosawa’s mature style: detached, fatalistic, his characters now trapped by destiny and unable to change its course. “Kagemusha” is a pessimistic work, one which offers no hope of action. Kurosawa had begun to delineate the way things fall apart, and the atmosphere is one of melancholy and, ultimately, despair.

I have heard it remarked that this film (and “Ran”) suffers from the absence of Toshiro Mifune. While I agree that the break-up of Kurosawa and Mifune made cinema a poorer place, it must be said that Tatsuya Nakadai (a stage actor who had previously played villains in “Yojimbo” and “Sanjuro”) does an excellent job in a role originally intended for the comic actor Shinaro Katsu. However, the true greatness lies, as always, in Kurosawa’s direction. Like “Ran,” “Kagemusha” was meticulously planned, mapped out first in the form of drawings and diagrams, a result of Kurosawa’s inability to secure financial backing for the film for several years. The film is full of visually stunning scenes, none more so than the finale one, the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Nagashino, its scenes of carnage apparently inspired by Kurosawa’s witnessing of the Kanto earthquake of 1923.

There are, however, several problems with the DVD, and that is why I haven’t given it the full five stars. Firstly, this is the international version of the film. That is to say, it is nearly 30 minutes shorter than the Japanese release. One consequence of this is that we miss out on the great Takashi Shimura’s last performance for Kurosawa. Secondly, the only English subtitles provided are for the hard-of-hearing. This smacks of laziness to me. Lastly, there has been no attempt to “clean-up” the picture, and sadly it is quite grainy, with the colours not as vibrant as they should be. While it is certainly watchable, one cannot help thinking that such a major work deserves better.

In conclusion, then, a great Kurosawa film let down by a so-so DVD.

Superlative film - diabolical dvd!
As another reviewer has already observed, surely this masterpiece deserves the best possible remastering for DVD? Apart from the awful editing and cutting, the picture quality is very poor and the sound is a disgrace. Kurosawa San and Kagemusha should be afforded the proper respect and until that happens I strongly advise would be viewers to see this magnificent film in all its' glory on the big screen.

layer cake of delight
I saw this film 25 years ago & found it visually stunning, gruesomely beautiful, a rich yet dark experience. But you know how it can sometimes be, with books or films you've read or seen a long time ago - more often than not a series of disappointments - & you can end up half-despising the younger self who so naively thought this wonderful... Not this time, though: Kagemusha is a brilliant cinematic achievement.