Kagemusha is a visual splendor
By Jon Carrelli
Published: Friday, July 22, 2005
World-renowned director Akira Kurosawa was responsible for such
classic films as Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai and The Hidden
Fortress. Since his passing in 1998, the Criterion Collection has
done a superb job reissuing some of his most cherished works
including those mentioned above, as well as Red Beard, Throne of
Blood, Stray Dog, Sanjuro, Yojimbo and High and Low. Most recently
the Criterion Collection has released a double disc version of
Kurosawa's 1980 film Kagemusha.
Although the film was plagued with delays during production, it
still remains as one of Kurosawa's most poignant works and is given
an overdue, brilliant treatment on this reissue.
In 1968, Kurosawa collaborated with Japanese directors Masaki
Kobayashi, Kon Ichikawa and Keisuke Kinoshita to form the Yonki-no-
kai company. The company's only film, Dodes'ka-Den, released in 1970
was a commercial failure. This event, in conjunction with his
decision to leave the set of the disastrous Tora! Tora! Tora!, sent
Kurosawa into a deep depression. His depression culminated in an
attempted suicide in December of 1971.
However, three years later Mosfilm (the Soviet national film
production bureau) commissioned Kurosawa to make Dersu Uzala, which
went on to win the 1976 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Regardless, Kurosawa still lacked the funding for he needed to make
Kagemusha due to the failure of Dodes'ka-Den.
To relieve the frustration of this situation, Kurosawa began
painting furiously again. As a young man, Kurosawa had originally
been a painter within the Japan Proletariat Artists Group.
Contemporary German Expressionism, Soviet Realism and French Avant-
Garde influenced his work as a painter. His paintings and
storyboards (some of which are featured in the 48-page booklet
packaged with Kagemusha) have characteristic calligraphic lines and
bold primary colors. Kurosawa cites political pressure against
artists and liberal writers, needing to find a dependable livelihood
and the suicide of his brother as the three factors that made him
switch from painting to film.
Kurosawa learned film under Yamamoto Kajiro, a relationship he
describes more like that of an elder and younger brother rather than
an apprenticeship.
It was based on these brilliant storyboards for Kagemusha that
Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas (huge admirers of Kurosawa's
work) approached Kurosawa about helping him fund the project.
Essentially the funding for Kagemusha was garnered from the success
of Lucas' first Star Wars film, as well as Coppola's first two
Godfather installments and Apocalypse Now.
Production for Kagemusha began in 1979 and was plagued by an
argument Kurosawa had with lead actor Katsu Shintaro who demanded
that his own personal camera crew be allowed on the set to keep a
video record of his work. Nakadai Tatsuya replaced Shintaro and
Kagemusha was ready to be transformed from static paintings into
living, breathing film.
Kurosawa describes Kagemusha as a medieval samurai drama loosely
based on ideas in Shakespeare's King Lear. Kurosawa had already
successfully translated Macbeth in his Throne of Blood film and
Hamlet in The Bad Sleep Well. He would later more fully adapt King
Lear in his 1985 film Ran.
Kurosawa made Kagemusha about the historical character of Shingen
Takeda that would have to display different faces in different
situations.
Historically, Shingen was known to use many kagemusha, or doubles,
so that he could avoid surprise attacks. In the film, Shingen uses
his brother Nobukado as a double, as well as a ruffian from the
streets who looks uncannily like him. (Skip to next paragraph to
avoid SPOILERS).
After Shingen dies, his brother refuses to continue impersonating
him. Having been so affected by Shingen as a person, the thief
agrees to continue impersonating him in order to keep the Takeda
clan alive.
However, the family of Shingen begins to notice that the thief is
not truly their warlord and expel him from the clan. Later in time,
the thief is forced to watch the Takeda clan fall to Nobunaga and
his Tokugawa clan as they ignore the advice of Shingen and
strategist Sun Zi: "Swift as the wind, as silent as the forest, as
sweeping as fire, as immovable as the mountain." Kurosawa sees this
as historically fascinating because Japan would have been a much
different place had Shingen and the Takeda clan gained control of
Kyoto.
Kurosawa's writing process always involved two or three partners,
but he "always left the translation of prose scenes into images to
himself." Since Kurosawa began losing his eyesight around this time,
his use of illustrated storyboards greatly aided him in
communicating how he wanted Kagemusha to look.
Perhaps his most visually stunning film, Kagemusha uses brilliantly
colored fabrics of blood reds and fiery yellows. In a dream
sequence, Kurosawa's use of black lights, Day-Glo paints, surreal
terrain, otherworldly backdrops and eerie reflections makes for one
of the most visually stunning scenes in film history.
In a Tony Rayns interview with Kurosawa, the director shares how he
feels about young directors in the Japanese film industry.
He explains that although these young "indie" directors are limited
by budget, they try to make their films abrasive to attract an
audience.
However, Kurosawa believes that a director should always make a film
to attract as large an audience as possible, while sacrificing none
of his or her artistic vision.
It is in this way that Kagemusha succeeds so well. It is an
accessible film with an engaging story based on true history and
beautiful cinematography to boot. Kagemusha went on to win the Palm
D'Or at Cannes in 1980.
Disc one of the Criterion Collection re-release of Kagemusha
includes a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, audio
commentary, theatrical trailers and improved English subtitle
translation.
Disc two is a fascinating collection of documentaries including a
discussion between Lucas, Coppola and Kurosawa, a making of
Kagemusha, a storyboard to film comparison, a collection of Suntory
Whiskey commercials and a gallery of storyboards painted by
Kurosawa.
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