Kagemusha - Criterion Collection (1980)

 ...but picky videophiles may be slightly disappointed
Kagemusha is a great movie, and for my money it is more entertaining than Ran. Kurosawa was trying to be too artsy in the latter film, which always puts me off just a little. Kagemusha tells the story in a more straightforward fashion, the acting is less exaggerated, and I think it's just more fun. However, what prompted me to review it was the visual quality, which I found a bit below what I'd expect from Criterion.

I saw the original shortened version in the theater when it was first released in USA. That was so long ago, memory won't allow me to compare with this Criterion DVD. However, the film, as noted by other reviewers, is a bit grainy. Nothing wrong with that. I like film grain, myself, as opposed to digitally smoothed visuals, which look less "organic" to me. The problem is that if you want to preserve accurately the whole visual character of the film, including the grain in the film, you need a lot of digital bits to do so. Kagemusha is three hours long. As a result, the average bitrate of the video on this DVD had to be shaved down somewhat. This leads to some "artifacts" of digital compression.

It is a small point, perhaps. But the lower bitrate does make the movie look slightly more grainy than it already is, due to digital compression. Perhaps you won't care, or even notice unless you watch on a high definition monitor, however the movie is not quite as sharp and clean as it could be.

My own preference would be for Criterion to have divided the movie in 2 parts on 2 DVDs, allowing the highest quality image possible. I don't think they quite achieved that goal with Kagemusha. Alternatively, Criterion could have applied more digital filtering to reduce the grain, and still put a three hour film on one disc. April 11, 2008

 Art injected with life
This is probably Akira's most visually stunning and beautifully artistic film. The colors throughout create a glorious piece to behold. Seriously, it looks like an wondrous art gallery transfered to the screen.
Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) hinges on perceptions and reality. It's a fable about a powerful warlord being impersonated by a petty thief. This illusion is conjoured up to disguise certain truths that would shift the momentum of power.
This movie really concentrates on this facade throughout. I know there were times when I yearned for some eloquent battle sequences, like in Seventh Samurai or Ran. But Akira concentrates more on art instead of action here. He makes a certain statement on the politics of war and the nature of power.
Kurosawa had difficulty getting this film financed, which is a suprise considering his brilliant career. If it hadn't been for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola's help, this might never have been made. October 26, 2007

 A classic of early color cinematography
I'm no film buff: indeed, I seem to be going through a bout of revisiting icons of my college years. Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai" left lasting memories and I wanted to see more of this great director's work. The booklet giving background to Kagemusha was very helpful to me and I found the plot twist to be one that provoked further reflection in the days after I had watched the film. It is one that I will keep and will watch again from time to time. I agree with an earlier reviewer that the film has a number of relatively static set pieces, mostly associated with clan council meetings or the reception of emissaries. There is a fascinating scene where an early "sniper" demonstrates an ingenious technique for setting up the fatal shot on which the plot turns. At times the effect is a bit "archaic" and a bit reminiscent of one of the early Russian historic "epic" films about a Prince who defeats the Teutonic knights. Still, the film held my interest all by itself, without reference to the history of the cinema. October 10, 2007

 Kagemusha
Staggering in its scope and power, "Kagemusha" features soulful acting, breathtaking visual sequences, and at its heart, a mortal tragedy worthy of Shakespeare. Kurosawa not only tells a whopping good yarn rooted in historic reality, he uses the vulgar, but wrenchingly sympathetic figure of Nakadai's thief to explore questions of identity and the theatrical nature of political power. In addition, Kurosawa's painterly use of color (especially during several large-scale battle set pieces, for which he used five cinematographers) and his haunting, slow-motion dream sequences are simply unparalleled. Made with the help of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, "Kagemusha" is a somber late masterpiece by one of the world's greatest filmmakers. July 9, 2007

 Why not 7 stars?
Now this is CINEMA!

The Criterion Collection DVD is filled with extras, from original Japanese documentaries and interviews of the departed Kurosawa (with English subtitles, if needed) and a booklet containing scene sketches
by the Master himself, which help you to understand why his movies are so poetic and his photography so masterful.

The movie is presented uncut and in its full splendor. The sound is just a conventional Stereo, which is probably the original soundtrack.
Pity, because if there had been a Surround division of the channels, some very spectacular battle scenes would have been more involving.

But perhaps, Akira Kurosawa wanted precisely that, to avoid the viewer to be distracted by the fluff, and rather concentrate on the story he is trying to tell.

Also known in the Western hemisphere as "The Shadow Warrior", this is truly an Epic picture with a very beautiful and touching storyline.

This picture is the true and natural tie to other Kurosawa movies like "Seven Samurai", "Yojimbo", "Sanjuro" and "The Hidden Fortress".

Unlike "Throne of Blood" (adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth) and "Ran" (adaptation of King Lear), both also masterpieces, "Kagemusha" is an original Japanese story and gives a thorough insight of Japan in the 17th Century.

I always tought that Criterion was just out to steal our hard-earned money just for its name, but after having now bought Akira Kurosawa's "Ran", the present "Kagemusha", as well as Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard", I will stick to Criterion like CA Glue.

Although pricey, it is through and through, money totally well-spent, for the quality in DVD rendition (very clean and sharp transfers), very acceptable sound, although some more work on this would be nicer, especially with more recent movies.

Criterion has really proven that quality has its own price and believe me, I have never seen "Kagemusha" and "Ran" the way I have watched them on my flatscreen LCD HD TV.

Going to the movies nowadays, with a technology like High Definition TVs, has totally become obsolete.

DVDs, when properly treated and produced can knock out any movie theater in the world.

Thank you Criterion for the work of love you put in remastering and transferring such classics on DVD, not to mention the tons of extras you include with them.

Highly recommended and well worth its price. March 9, 2007

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