Kagemusha (1980)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Masato Ide (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

6 October 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

When a powerful warlord in medieval Japan dies, a poor thief recruited to impersonate him finds difficulty...

Plot Keywords:

Impostor | Samurai | Substitution | Japan | 1570s

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Shingen Takeda / Kagemusha
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Nobukado Takeda
Kenichi Hagiwara	...	Katsuyori Takeda
Jinpachi Nezu	...	Sohachiro Tsuchiya
Hideji Otaki	...	Masakage Yamagata
Daisuke Ryu	...	Nobunaga Oda
Masayuki Yui	...	Ieyasu Tokugawa
Kaori Momoi	...	Otsuyanokata
Mitsuko Baisho	...	Oyunokata
Hideo Murota	...	Nobufusa Baba
Takayuki Shiho	...	Masatoyo Naito
Koji Shimizu	...	Katsusuke Atobe
Noboru Shimizu	...	Masatane Hara
Sen Yamamoto	...	Nobushige Oyamada
Shuhei Sugimori	...	Masanobu Kosaka

Also Known As:

Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)
Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior
The Double

Runtime:

179 min | Argentina:162 min | USA:162 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

South Korea:12 (1998) | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan

Company:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Trivia:

Much of the film recounts actual historical events, including Shingen's death and the two-year secret, and the climactic Battle of Nagashino in 1575. Those scenes are also modeled closely on detailed accounts of the battle.

Quotes:

Masakage Yamagata: How old are you, sire? Fifty-three, as I remember.
Shingen Takeda: Why?
Masakage Yamagata: And you still behave like a five-year-old child. People gather, scatter, they go left and right following their interests. That is not surprising. But then I find you like this. With such a narrow mind, you must not dream of rulership. Go back to your own domain. You are a mountain monkey. You should be gathering nuts in the mountains of Kai.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brazil (1985)

A beautiful film about human relationships

There's a lot that can be said about Kurosawa's work in general and this film in particular, but the thing that impressed me the most in this movie is the relationship between Kagemusha and the little boy Takemaru (the son of the warlord that Kagemusha is copying). The developing friendship between these two people of contrasting social status, upbringing and age is in my opinion one of the most deeply explored relationships in the world cinematography.

The interesting thing about it, is that nothing happens as such. The Western viewer is used to all 'deep' emotions on screen being displayed through useless running around, talking pretentious rubbish and occasionally saving your loved one from a falling meteorite, car, etc. But in "Kagemusha" all the feelings are displayed as they are in real life and yet with amazing intensity which what makes it so special. The psychological and war drama is put against a breath-taking scenery and beautiful buildings of medieval Japan which emphasize the human relationships shown in the film.