Review of Kagemusha (1980) by Dustin G — 07 Sep 2008
After experiancing hard times in Japan with his films, Kurosawa, feeling shamed and useless, tried to kill himself. He messed that up, came back, and with the help of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, found financing for this 1980 film, which wound up being the most expensive Japanese film ever made. It's a good thing Kurosawa botched his suicide up, because right after he came back and made this amazing film, he made his crown jewel, Ran.
This movie is about a Japanese warlord who hires a theif about to be executed to be his double as he looks exactly like him. When the warlord is killed by a sniper's bullet, the double must step in and portray the lord full time, so the clan's enemy's don't decimate them.
It's slow moving much of the time and has less action than Kurosawa's other samurai films, but the action it does have is awesome and the slow parts are so intriguing, you don't care. The directing is, of course, flawless and amazing, the most amazing thing being that Kurosawa was 78 when he made this and nearly blind!
A fantastic character study and piece of filmmaking genius by one the top three greatest director's who've ever lived.
This review of Kagemusha (1980) was written by Dustin G on 07 Sep 2008.
Kagemusha has generally received very positive reviews.
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