Kagemusha (1980) - Has one of the best opening scenes

Review No. : 0019

Title : Kagemusha

Year : 1980

Director : Akira Kurosawa

Country : Japan

World’s Verdict : Rotten Tomatoes – 86% out of 100%; IMDB – 6.9 out of 10.0; Cannes Film Festival – Palm d’Or Award.

My Verdict : 3.0  out of 5.0.

The first scene of Kagemusha (1980) is brilliant in countless ways and I consider it a prime example of art and function.  It shows three similar-looking men wearing identical clothes sitting in a dark room.  The man at the center is Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai), a powerful daimyo who is currently at war with other Japanese clans.  The man on Shingen’s right is Nobukado (Tsutomo Yamazaki), his brother and his right hand man.  The man on Shingen’s left is a thief (also played by Tatsuya Nakadai), who was about to be crucified but was saved by Nobukado because of his uncanny resemblance with the daimyo.  The status and rank is shown on where they are seated, the thief on the floor, Nobukado on an elevated floor and Shingen sitting on a dais.  The scene lasts more than six minutes and it effectively establishes the story of the film.  The conversation starts with Nobukado and Shingen, they examine the thief, talk about his background, how he looks very much like the daimyo.  Nobukado proposes to Shingen that the thief could be an effective double for him.  The scene also establishes the personalities of the three major characters: The daimyo, who will do anything to protect his clan; Nobukado, who will do anything to protect his brother; and the thief, who is stubborn but willing to submit just to survive.

Three and four are the magic numbers used in this scene to balance it and make it a little symmetrical.  Three.  Three men, three heights of seats and three vertical objects: a candlestick with a lighted candle, a sword stand with katana on it and the shadow of the katana and its stand.  The candlestick is the foreground, the sword and its stand is the middleground and its shadow is the background.  Light, sword and shadow.  Each object represents a man beside it.  The sword symbolizes power and represents the mighty Shingen sitting near it.  In this scene the candle is near the thief because he is the subject of scrutiny but he will eventually be a representation of the light, the idea and the solution after the mighty sword falls.  At the back of Nobukado is the shadow of the sword, because that is his role, he is a shadow of his brother and will continue to be a shadow even after the death of the daimyo.  The other magic number in this scene is four.  Four petals of the lotus flower that is the symbol of the Shingen’s clan and four for the four men in the room.  There are three men but there is only one visible shadow, the shadow of Shingen, this is the fourth man.  The effectiveness of this scene is that it foreshadows what will happen to the thief and Nobukada.  The shadow of Shingen will forever haunt the lives of the thief and the brother.  They will live for him, imitate him and make sure that his physical shadow will live even when he is already gone and this is through making the thief a kagemusha.

Kagemusha literary means “shadow warrior”, a body double, a political decoy.  The film is set in the Sengoku period of Japan and tells the story of a thief who is a body double for a daimyo and the officers willing to deceive the public and enemies to preserve their clan.  Soon the daimyo dies and the thief is hired to continue to impersonate the leader because the strength of their military is perceived through the living daimyo.

The Good

• The cinematography – Akira Kurosawa is known for his well-thought-of beautiful scenes and this movie is another visual art.  Too much beauty, techniques and thoughts are embedded in small and big scenes.  The opening sequence is a good example of a simple but artistic shot.  The battle scenes are examples of full blown cinematic experience because of its sheer scale that involves hundreds of warriors and horses running on a vast field.  The value of this movie relies very much on cinematography.

The Bad                  

• The sometimes over-the-top acting – Tatsuya Nakadai effectively delivers the role of the thief or the kagemusha.  Though, there are moments that I feel he exaggerates his acting a little bit.  An example is when he plans to steal one night, he acts like a comic cartoon, exaggerating the movement of his arms, legs and eyes.  Another taste of over-the-top performance from Nakadai is the last scene wherein he runs to the battlefield defenseless (which makes no sense to me at all), he opens his mouth very wide and makes his eyes big that it looks like it will pop out.  It’s a little bit of theatrical acting.
• Ghostly make-up – I remember in Ran (1985), Tatsuya Nakadai wears a make-up so white that it makes him look like a ghost, but it actually contributed to cinematography.  There is a similar scene in Kamegusha (1980) wherein Nakadai is again so white that he is beyond pale, he looks more like a ghost and the natural effect is abolished.  I just don’t get why Kurosawa loves to do this, I get it in Ran (1985) but not in this movie, it’s just a little bit off.
• The dream sequence – There is a scene wherein the thief is gets visited by the dead daimyo in a nightmare.  What I like about this scene is that the colors are very vibrant and it contains the most memorable scene in the entire movie.  What I don’t like about it is that it looks very much like a scene shoot in a 1950s studio.  It looks very much fake even for a dream.
• The lack of action – The film, even though it contains grand scale battle scenes is not much of action and stunts.  So if you are looking for battle action this is not the movie.
• Unsustainable interest – 20 minutes before the film ends I already lost my interest and I feel like the last battle scene is too long and too grand but useless.  The movie started very well but the ending could have been better or shorter.

This movie has one of the best opening scenes, it captivated me but near the ending of the film I lost a little bit of interest.  I do recommend this movie to be watched by film enthusiasts a lot of techniques can be learned from it.