Deja Vu review: Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha'

The recent round of deep reflections on master film directors brought memories as well of Akira Kurosawa, for me the greatest of them all. It's both curious and gratifying that the highest-trafficked review in this DVD blog's short history is of Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" and "Ran."

"Kagemusha" (1980), sometimes subtitled "The Shadow Warrior," came roughly at the same time as "Ran," and in a similar mature colorful style. Kurosawa had despaired of making this film after Japan's film establishment refused funding in the years following his suicide attempt. American fans George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola eagerly came to the master's aid, bringing clout and money as executive producers.

The film covers the chaotic years of 1573-75, in which clans battled for control of Japan. The samurai who once fought with swords picked up rifles, a sudden advance in the art of war that led to the infamous slaughter at Nagashima and eventually to the unification of Japan.

In the fields of Nagashima, Kurosawa tracks his "beloved samurai era to the point of extinction."

The Criterion Collection's double-disc set of a few years back unspools a fine-looking uncut version of this underrated film. The DVDs include an imaginative treatment of Kurosawa's watercolor storyboards as well as a history of the troubled production.

Read the complete "Kagemusha" review.

* About "Deja Vu reviews": As in, didn't I read that before ... hmm.