Kagemusha (1980)

 Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha"


After a few years in which he was uncertain about his future with filmmaking, Akira Kurosawa got a little help from his friends in making his 1980 film "Kagemusha." That is to say that Kurosawa fans and fellow filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola assisted Kurosawa in getting the remainder of his budget paid. They persuaded 20th Century Fox to fund the remainder of the film's over bloated production budget in return for international distribution right. The extra cost of these budgets went to the climatic battle sequences, which used over 5,000 extras. 

The film takes place in 1571 during the Sengoku period of Japan. A petty thief is recruited to impersonate an aging warlord in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When the warlord dies, his generals agree to have the imposter take over as the ruler. 

The film, for me, only seemed like a test-run for Kurosawa's 1985 masterpiece, "Ran." I felt the visuals of the film were incredibly. However, I had a difficult time engaging with the picture on any emotional level. That is not to say that it was a bad or poorly made film. On the contrary, it was an incredibly spectacle. However, I did not feel like the feel warranted its runtime, or its storyline. Overall, it felt like a visual practice run for Kurosawa, who would go on to make something far more important. 



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