Kagemusha Reviews

A real masterpiece

The explosion in CGI technology has meant it is now possible to show battle scenes with ..ooh..trillions of people. Trouble is, with one notable exception, they?ve looked just like sophisticated video games.

This film, made in 1980, was filmed in the old fashioned way and it far surpasses any of the CGI brigade in terms of realism and beauty. Kurosawa was only working with a few hundred extras yet he conjures up cinematic images - the retreating army silhouetted against a blood-red sky springs to mind - that remind you film can be an art-form. My biggest regret is that I wish I?d seen this on the big screen, The DVD copy is a fine wide-screen transfer but it can?t match the real cinematic experience.

The film is not without its faults; narrative structure was never the directors? strong-point. Some of the action is confusing, the acting is very theatrical in comparison with western styles, some of the characters behave inconsistently and there?s no sense of time in the thing ? the grandson doesn?t grow up at all in the three year time period; but, then again, this is not what the film is about.

Kurosawa doesn?t move his camera very much. In contrast with the edit and zoom ridden western way, the viewer is able to appreciate the glorious vistas he puts in front of them.

Some of you may find the film slow and theatrical, while others will love it to the level of pretentiousness (I know), but you can?t ignore its magnificence or, indeed, its relevance.

Just watch ?Lord of the Rings? ? the notable CGI exception I mentioned at the beginning. There are at least a couple of sequences in ?Kagemusha? that appear in almost identical fashion in Peter Jackson?s work. Methinks Mr Jackson owes Kurosawa a lot.

Not Kurosawa's greatest

Aside from some interesting uses of colour (deep and rich reds pervade nearly every scene) and the occasional memorable set-piece, there's not much to recommend in Kurosawa's penultimate epic "Kagemusha".

Whereas his final film "Ran" proved masterful in its combination of epic, poetic samurai battles and internal conflict, this film never really does well at either. The tale centres on the double of a powerful warlord, who suffers a severe identity crisis after being taken to the top of the political food chain and then unceremoniously booted out.

The plot isn't too bad, and certain scenes, such as the dream sequence and the profoundly moving finale, get close to the genius Kurosawa is frequently capable of.

However, the battle scenes aren't very involving, and the middle section of the film seriously drags without really offering anything to mull over.

It's worth a look, but is nowhere near as essential as Kurosawa's early classics or his final swansong.

Hard Work

I love Kurosawa?s work but this film was hard work. I found that the likenesses between the lord, his brother and the double made it hard to follow things at first. Add to that the subtitles, and finally that way the scenes were drawn out meant I was exhausted after watching this, but I guess in a way that is what it was all about. Great story, great performances, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more character development, which seemed to take a back seat to the action, mainly the battles.

Another masterpiece! The obvious large budget and high profile of this film separates it from kurosawas earlier films but i am undecided to whether it improves it, Its alot grander than his other films and is on more of an epic scale but this causes some loss of simplicity that his earlier films pulled off very well, the plot can also get rather confusing in parts due to subtitles and the large quantity of japanese names to remember. However this film has the heart of a kurosawa film, with careful observation of human nature and morality playing a key part and the lead character (only know as 'the double') is acted and portrayed superbly. Thus the audience builds up a strong connection with the film and its characters, making the breathtaking conclusion of the film all the more affecting and powerful.

Epic

Kurosawa's film is an epic tale of 16th Century Japanese feudal society and has all of his trademarks - great cinematography, attention to detail, long takes and no CGI, just a lot of extras. Well worth the effort provided you give it full attention for the whole two and a half hour running time.

Slow but strong epic

Kagemush is one of Akira Kurosowa's war epic's. The basic plot follows a civil war between three rival warlords, Shingen, Nobunaga and Iesayu.

The movie is very slow and has many long scenes of dialogue. Its heavy on the plot but doesnt drag too badly. Some of the characterisation is a bit vague (sadly two of the characters look very similliar)

On the plus side there are powerful emotional points and the look of the movie is impressive. The costumes, the sets and the camera work is stunning.

Despite a down-beat ending the movie makes its anti-war statement well and raises some good points

Hard work but recomended

3/5

Worth watching - but the least enjoyable film by the director that I have seen.

quality samurai epic

involving storyline, interesting characters, universally well acted, fine set-piece battles - everything you could ask for from a samurai epic. it's not complicated, so long as you take note of the characters names/faces at the start of the movie. definitely recommended (misses the extra star as i found the movie v good, but didn't quite hit the heights of greatness :-)

Long

Although a visually stunning film, I think the running time is generous for the plot. The battle scenes, of which there are few, are impressive for the number of warriors involved but anyone wanting to see explicit combat or personal duels will be disappointed. Too many guns and not enough swords!

Turgid

Pretty boring, found it hard to stay awake. Colourful and epic in a pre CGI world but little engaging plot or characters.