Kagemusha

 Kagemusha, 1980

Japanese, historical drama

2h/42m

4 Stars

 

Kagemusha means Shadow Warrior, one who is a double. This movie, directed by Akira Kurosawa, takes place during the war before Tokugawa Ieyasu became Shogun. It follows a petty thief who looks like a twin of the samurai warlord and is hired to be his double. When the warlord dies, the thief is forced to fight in his place. Kurosawa was the master. Master writer, master director, for my book one of the best of all time. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite do it for me. I don’t know if it was the lack of Toshiro Mifune, the odd special effects, or just me. The story seemed longer than necessary, maybe because I was pretty sure how it would end? There is a huge battle at the end, we hear it, but don’t see anything until the battle is over.