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Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Kagemusha |
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Set around the end of Japan's feudal period, during that country's equivalent of the Wars of the Roses -- about 1580 -- "Kagemusha" tells the story of the Shingen clan. Clan leader Shingen Takeda is such a superior general that the clan's relatively small numbers can never be defeated by larger armies as long as he lives. His closest advisors keep his death a secret for three years, and employ a poor thief who closely resembles Shingen as a double in the great general's place. ("Kagemusha" means "shadow warrior.") The thief naturally has trouble with the role, but grows into it somewhat. Eventually rival clans divine the truth and, no longer useful, the shadow warrior is cast out by the Shingen clan. He witnesses (and identifies with) its destruction. In a powerful climax, director Akira Kurosawa portrays the transition from traditional to modern warfare: a line of horses is mowed down by a fusillade of gunfire. Visually sumptuous but slow-moving and not particularly character-driven or dramatic, this film may not be to the average Western viewer's taste, but it is a gorgeous and moving work of art nonetheless.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Kagemusha |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- middle ages
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- soldier
Ethnic/Regional/Gender story?
Yes
Main Char. ethnic: (if not US Caucasian)
- Japanese
Culture of surrounding area:
- Japanese
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- deluded
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- white
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) muscular
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Asia/Pacific/Middle East
Yes
Asian country:
- Japan
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
- castle
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- Japanese
Subtitles?
- Yes
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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