| Kagemusha | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa (uncredited)[1] |
| Music by | Shin'ichirō Ikebe |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
|
Release date |
|
Running time | 180 minutes |
| Country |
|
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget |
|
| Box office | $33 million (est.) |
Kagemusha (影武者;Shadow Warrior) is a 1980 Japaneseepicjidaigeki film directed byAkira Kurosawa. It is set in theSengoku period ofJapanese history and tells the story of a lower-class petty thief who is taught to impersonate the dyingdaimyōTakeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan.Kagemusha is the Japanese term for apolitical decoy, literally meaning "shadow warrior". The film ends with the climactic 1575Battle of Nagashino.[5]
Kagemusha was released to critical acclaim.[6] The film won thePalme d'Or at the1980 Cannes Film Festival (tied withAll That Jazz). It was also nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received other honours. In 2009 the film was voted at No. 59 on the list ofThe Greatest Japanese Films of All Time by Japanese film magazineKinema Junpo.[7]
During theSengoku period, in 1571,Takeda Shingen,daimyō ofKai province from theTakeda clan, meets a thief his brotherNobukado has spared fromcrucifixion due to the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen. The brothers agree that he would prove useful as a double, and they decide to use the thief as akagemusha, a political decoy. Later, while the Takeda armylays siege to a castle belonging toTokugawa Ieyasu, Shingen is shot while listening to a flute playing in the enemy camp. He orders his forces to withdraw and, before succumbing to his wound, commands his generals to keep his death a secret for three years. Meanwhile, Shingen's rivalsOda Nobunaga,Tokugawa Ieyasu, andUesugi Kenshin puzzle over the reason for Shingen's withdrawal, unaware of his death.
Nobukado presents the thief toShingen's generals, proposing to have him impersonate Shingen full-time. Although the thief is unaware of Shingen's death initially, he eventually finds Shingen's preserved corpse in a large jar, having believed it to contain treasure. The generals then decide they cannot trust the thief and release him. Later, the jar is dropped intoLake Suwa, which spies working for the Tokugawa and Oda forces witness. Suspecting that Shingen has died, the spies go to report their observation, but the thief, having overheard the spies, returns to the Takeda forces and offers to work as akagemusha. The Takeda clan preserves the deception by announcing that they were simply making an offering ofsake to the god of the lake, and the spies are ultimately convinced by the thief's performance.
Returning home, thekagemusha convinces Shingen'sretinue by imitating the late warlord's gestures and learning more about him. When thekagemusha must preside over a clan meeting, he is instructed by Nobukado to remain silent until Nobukado brings the generals to a consensus, whereupon thekagemusha will simply agree with the generals' plan and dismiss the council. However, Shingen's sonKatsuyori is incensed by his father's decree of the three year subterfuge, which delays his inheritance and leadership of the clan. Katsuyori thus decides to test thekagemusha in front of the council, as the majority of the attendants are still unaware of Shingen's death. He directly asks thekagemusha what course of action should be taken, but thekagemusha is able to answer convincingly in Shingen's own manner, which further convinces the generals.
In 1573, Nobunaga mobilizes his forces to attackAzai Nagamasa, continuing his campaign in centralHonshu to maintain his control ofKyoto against the growing opposition. When the Tokugawa and Oda forces launch an attack against the Takeda, Katsuyori begins a counter-offensive against the advice of his generals. Thekagemusha is then forced to lead reinforcements in theBattle of Takatenjin, and he helps inspire the troops to victory. However, in a later fit of overconfidence, thekagemusha attempts to ride Shingen's notoriously temperamental horse, and falls off. When those who rush to help him see that he does not have Shingen's battle scars, he is revealed as an impostor, and is driven out in disgrace, allowing Katsuyori to take over the clan. Sensing weakness in the Takeda clan leadership, the Oda and Tokugawa forces are emboldened to begin a full-scale offensive into the Takeda homeland.
By 1575, now in full control of the Takeda army, Katsuyori leads a counter-offensive against Nobunaga inNagashino. Although courageous in their assault, several waves of Takeda cavalry and infantry are cut down by volleys ofgunfire from Odaarquebusiers deployed behind wooden stockades, effectively eliminating the Takeda army. Thekagemusha, who has followed the Takeda army, desperately takes up a spear and charges toward the Oda lines before being shot himself. Mortally wounded, thekagemusha attempts to retrieve thefūrinkazan banner, which had fallen into a river, but succumbs to his wounds and is carried away by the current.
George Lucas andFrancis Ford Coppola are credited at the end of the film asexecutive producers in the international version. This is because they persuaded20th Century-Fox to make up a shortfall in the film's budget when the original producers,Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film. In return, 20th Century-Fox received the international distribution rights to the film. Coppola and Kurosawa appeared together inSuntory whisky commercials to raise money for the production.[8]
Kurosawa originally cast the actorShintaro Katsu in the title role. Katsu left the production, however, before the first day of shooting was over; in an interview for theCriterion Collection DVD, executive producerCoppola states that Katsu angered Kurosawa by arriving with his own camera crew to record Kurosawa's filmmaking methods. It is unclear whether Katsu was fired or left of his own accord, but he was replaced byTatsuya Nakadai, a well-known actor who had appeared in a number of Kurosawa's previous films. Nakadai played both thekagemusha and the lord whom he impersonated.
Kurosawa wrote a part inKagemusha for his longtime regular actorTakashi Shimura, andKagemusha was the last Kurosawa film in which Shimura appeared. However, the scene in which he plays a servant who accompanies a Catholic missionary and doctor to a meeting with Shingen was cut from the foreign release of the film. TheCriterion CollectionDVD release of the film restored this scene as well as approximately another eighteen minutes in the film.
According to Lucas, Kurosawa used 5,000 extras for the final battle sequence, filming for a whole day, then he cut it down to 90 seconds in the final release. Many special effects, and a number of scenes that filled holes in the story, landed on the "cutting-room floor".
Kagemusha was released theatrically in Japan on April 26, 1980, where it was distributed byToho.[2] It was released in the United States theatrically on October 6, 1980, where it was distributed byTwentieth Century-Fox.[2] The theatrical version in the United States had a 162-minute running time.[2] It was released on home video in the United States with a 180-minute running time in 2005.[2]
Kagemusha was the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1980, earning¥2.7 billion indistribution rental income.[9] It earned$8 million within ten days of release at 217 Japanese theaters.[10] The film grossed a total of¥5.5 billion ($26 million) in Japanesebox office gross receipts.[11]
Overseas, the film grossed$4 million in the United States[4] (equivalent to over$14 million adjusted for inflation in 2021)[12] from1.5 million ticket sales.[13] In France, where it released on 1 October 1980, the film sold 904,627 tickets,[14] equivalent to an estimatedgross revenue of approximately €2,442,500[15] ($3,401,000). This brings the film's total estimated worldwide gross revenue to approximately$33,401,000 (equivalent to $127,000,000 in 2024).
Kagemusha has an approval rating of 89% onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Epic in scope and awash with striking color,Kagemusha marks Akira Kurosawa's successful return to the samurai epic".[16]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[17]
Kagemusha won numerous honours in Japan and abroad, marking the beginning of Kurosawa's most successful decade in international awards, the 1980s.[18] At the1980 Cannes Film Festival,Kagemusha shared thePalme d'Or withAll That Jazz.[19] At the53rd Academy Awards,Kagemusha was nominated forBest Art Direction (Yoshirō Muraki) andBest Foreign Language Film.[20][21]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | March 31, 1981 | Best Foreign Language Film | Akira Kurosawa | Nominated | [20] |
| Best Art Direction | Yoshirō Muraki | Nominated | |||
| British Academy Film Awards | March 22, 1981 | Best Film | Akira Kurosawa,Tomoyuki Tanaka | Nominated | [22] |
| Best Direction | Akira Kurosawa | Won | |||
| Best Cinematography | Takao Saito, Shôji Ueda | Nominated | |||
| Best Costume Design | Seiichiro Momosawa | Won | |||
| Cannes Film Festival | May 23, 1980 | Palme d'Or | Akira Kurosawa | Won | [19] |
| César Awards | January 31, 1981 | Best Foreign Film | Akira Kurosawa | Won | [23] |
| David di Donatello | September 26, 1981 | Best Foreign Director | Akira Kurosawa | Won | [24] |
| Best Foreign Producer | Francis Ford Coppola,George Lucas | Won | |||
| Golden Globe Awards | January 31, 1981 | Best Foreign Language Film | Akira Kurosawa | Nominated | [25] |
| Mainichi Film Awards | 1980 | Best Film | Akira Kurosawa | Won | [26] |
| Best Director | Akira Kurosawa | Won | |||
| Best Actor | Tatsuya Nakadai | Won | |||
| Best Art Direction | Yoshirô Muraki | Won | |||
| Best Music | Shin'ichirō Ikebe | Won | |||
| National Board of Review | January 26, 1981 | Top Foreign Films | Akira Kurosawa | Won | [27] |
In 2016,The Hollywood Reporter ranked the film 10th among 69 counted winners of thePalme d'Or to date, concluding "Set against the wars of 16th-century Japan, Kurosawa's majestic samurai epic is still awe-inspiring, not only in its historical pageantry, but for imagery that communicates complex ideas about reality, belief and meaning."[28]
{{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help)
