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Summary: Kagemusha: Or How I Fell In Love With Sengoku Japan
Review: The backdrop of the story is Sengoku Japan where the daimyos of great clans vie with one other for supremacy. The ultimate goal is to become shogun to replace the now powerless Ashikaga of Kyoto. At the center of the tale is Shingen, lord of the Takeda clan, a warlord of surpassing skill, who strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies and inspires bravery and undying loyalty in his own men. Shingen is at the apex of his power, his armies threaten to crush Tokugawa Ieyasu the chief ally of his implacable foe, Oda Nubunaga. However, in an irony of fate, Shingen is mortally wounded. Shingen, along with his chief retainers are well aware that his death not only signals an end to his aspirations to crush the Tokugawa and Oda clans and to declare a Takeda shogunate, but also that it might, in fact, lead to the destruction of the Takeda clan under the leadership of his intemperate son, Katsuyori. So, a plan is devised to use a kagemusha (shadow warrior) to keep the enemies of the Takeda in check for three years (the significance of the period in question is never explained). The film is a visual masterpiece, Kurosawa has an equally good eye for epic as well as ordinary moments. Human bonds (and, perhaps, bondage) are at the heart of the story. A petty thief is torn and hollowed by having to assume the outward persona of a larger than life figure. In time his misery is comforted by the love of a child and, for a moment, he forgets... The destruction of the Takeda army at Nagashino is the predictable result of the revelation of Shingen's death. The kagemusha now half man, half ghost, watches in horror as warriors and horses are cut down; he watches their death throes and his remaining hold on a sense of self is finally lost in that danse macabre.
Kurosawa's choice of putting real historical figures in a stylized and mythical tale is somewhat problematical. It creates a number of creative constraints, while, nevertheless, taking liberties with the historical record. Regardless, it is a great movie, one that, in a number of ways, anticipates Kurosawa's final triumph, the sublime Ran.
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Summary: wonderful
Review: the spectacle of war and clan politics are the centerpiece of this feudal tale. really sympathized with the double all the way, i suppose this was kurosawa's intent. the historicity and ancient setting detaches, but shingen's shadow warrior re-connects us to the message; the shadow warrior is a petty thief, cynical of authority, we see a part (if not all) of us in him.
the last scene and final shot are breathtaking.
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Summary: Great Movie
Review: This film is not only one of the best that Akira Kurosawa directed, but it is based on events that happened during the Age of War in Japan.
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Summary: Masterpiece
Review: This is truly a masterpiece. Combining colorful imagery, history, great battles, and present-day emotions, this ranks as one of Kurosawa's best. The story is about a dying warlord who is replaced by a Kagemusha (double) to pose as him. The film examines human cruelty in a different way, just as all Kurosawa films do about how hard and painful it is to "become" a different man and pose as him, etc. . . This is a stunning work of art but not as good as Kurosawa's following epic, Ran, which is one of the greatest films of all time.
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Summary: Takeda Shingen (Born 1521 - Died 1573)
Review: This movie is based on three people 1. Takeda Shingen (Born 1521 - Died 1573),2.Oda Nobunaga (Born 1531 - Died 1582),and 3.Tokugawa Ieyasu (Born 1542 - Died 1616). The movie is set in 16th century Japan (Sengoku Era),Oda Nobunaga rules 'Kyoto' (Yamashiro Province) the throne of Japan,'Kyoto' orders Takeda Shingen to march to Kyoto to liberate the throne from the tyrant Oda Nobunaga. Oda Nobunaga who with 3,000 men defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto's 40,000 men in the battle of Okehazama in 1560 is seen as invincible and ronin warriors start to flock to his banner. In 1573,Oda Nobunaga's army grows from 3,000 to 50,000 men with Takeda Shingen's army at 30,000 men,Takeda Shingen's army beats off Oda Nobunaga's army effortlessly with ease on the road to Kyoto.Oda Nobunaga becomes panick stricken and tries to call a peace with the throne in Kyoto,while Oda Nobunaga helplessly watches his armies destroyed one after another. Tokugawa Ieyasu (an allie of Oda Nobunaga) entrenches himself at Hamamatsu Castle,and launches a calvery of 12,000 against Takeda Shingen's 30,000 men at 'Mikatagahara'(December 22,1573). Tokugawa Ieyasu loses 3,000 men,Takeda Shingen loses 300 men that day. Tokugawa Ieyasu's army runs back like whipped dogs back to the safety of Hamamatsu,watching helplessly as Takeda Shingen's army passes on by to the road to Kyoto. By a quirk of fate Takeda Shingen is shot by a sniper and dies later of lead poison,the Takeda clan keeps his death a secret for three years,meanwhile,Oda Nobunaga wonders why Takeda Shingen has laggard his attack not knowing Takeda Shingen died three years ago.
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Summary: Fine
Review: This movie is fine, I like it! Hope you enjoy it as well
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Summary: Epic masterpiece!
Review: This unbeatable Cannes winner film is a notable artistic triumph a real feast for the eyes , the mind and soul .
When the King has died in a very undesirable moment -wartimes- the Counsel decides not inform about this tragic event and decides to design a substitute for him to avoid the discouragement in the soldiers . The emotional tribulations and the huge pressure exerted in this double carries to a superb and poetic story teller under the powerful gaze of the superb japanese filmmaker, the dazzling genius : Akira Kurosawa .
The arresting images in the final battle are simply outstanding .
A timeless monumental masterpiece and one of the giants films in any age .
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Summary: a moving movie-going experience
Review: This was the first of Akira's movies that i have seen...iwas taken to see it by my mother who recognized my critical film watching nature as a youngster. I was thirteen when i saw this, and never stopped searching for more of Kurosawa's movies, and have seen many (and include several as the best movies of all time) but you know what they say about "the first time"...i can't really say too much about the film that already has been told, but i will say this...as a thirteen year old boy i felt kind of funny weaping openly at the fact that i was witnessing sheer genious...not at the scenes, the beauty of the film, or the plot (although when the shadow warrior twirled his mustache, i did tear up along with the servents!) but at the fact that film making could transcend the mediocre nonsense that we hollywood mass consumers have come to accept as good or even great cimema...i only felt that grateful for a film-makers achievements for two other movies; the seven samuri and the recent masterpeice "life is beautiful"....
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Summary: a MUST own masterpiece for a collector
Review: We want this masterpiece in DVD format.
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Summary: A supreme tale of the warrior mentality
Review: When Kurosawa made this film he was 70 years old and it stands without question as one of his best films. What makes it so powerful is the portrayal of the perfect fusion of the warrior's emotional intensity with intellectual acuity. Both emotion and intellect are focused solely, in this film, on enemy warlords outwitting each other and that focus is so strong that it more than carries the film through its 2 1/2 hour length.In fact, so strong is the focus that the hapless title character (the shadow warrior)--a common thief who is a perfect lookalike for a mighty warlord, who recruits the thief and is then used by the warlord's retainers as a stand-in after the warlord's death--himself ultimately takes on the psychology of a warrior. And this is true even after he is dismissed from service, after the ordained three years of his deception as the warlord have passed. Nowhere else in film has the psychology of the warrior been portrayed so sharply, with so much focus, with so much depth--not even in other Kurosawa films, although Seven Samurai is the sine qua non of samurai films. Yet here, in Kagemusha, we see the workings of the minds on both sides, whereas Seven Samurai's power comes from its depiction of how samurais use their intelligence to fight and outwit a completely insubstantial enemy--that is, the bandits, who are never shown up close or presented as anything other than marauding forces. Kagemusha will never be equalled in its portrayal of the intensity of the warrior spirit. Add to that the astounding vision of a filmmaker who knows more than any other how, where, and why a battle scene's power is derived. As well, there is perfect production design, costuming, and set pieces. There is the obvious attention to detail in capturing the entire world of feudal Japan. All of these together make for a film so riveting, so well done, it is impossible to say anything bad about the film. It just can't be done. This is a must see for all serious students of film, and for all those who love a great adventure, and for all those who just flat out love movies. It's perfect.
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