Kagemusha

From Freepedia

{{Infobox_Movie |movie_name = Kagemusha |image = Image:Kagemusha.png |director = Akira Kurosawa |producer = Francis Ford Coppola
Akira Kurosawa
George Lucas
Tomoyuki Tanaka |writer = Akira Kurosawa
Masato Ide |starring = Tatsuya Nakadai |movie_music= |distributor= Toho Studios
20th Century Fox (International) |release_date= 1980 |runtime = 2 hours, 59 minutes |movie_language = Japanese |imdb_id = 0080979 |music = |awards = |budget = |}}

Kagemusha (影武者) is a film by Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese word of the title means "impersonator" (more literally, "shadow warrior"). The story is of a man who is taught to pretend to be an already dead warlord for the sake of keeping his clan united in a forthcoming battle.

The film takes elements from the Warring States period in Japanese history. The shadowed warlord of the story is based on Daimyo Takeda Shingen and the battle on the Battle of Nagashino which took place in 1573 (source: [1]).

The film was released in 1980 and is generally considered a great costume reincarnation of feudal Japan with its endless warlordism as well as the story of a man with a divided personality, or more generally that of an actor who falls too deep into his role.

1 Plot
2 Background/Production
3 Reception
4 Cast
5 Quotes
6 Screenshots
7 References
8 External links

Plot

Background/Production

Kurosawa originally cast the boisterous Shintaro Katsu in the title role. He left the production, however, before the first day of shooting was over – either fired or of his own accord (stories differ) – and was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, who had appeared in a number of the director's previous films.

A little known fact is that George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola are credited at the end of the film as Executive producers (international version). They convinced 20th Century Fox – when the original producers, Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film – to make up the shortfall in the budget in return for the international distribution rights.

Kurosawa specifically wrote a part in Kagemusha for his longtime favorite actor Takashi Shimura, and Kagemusha was the last Kurosawa movie in which Shimura appeared. However, the scene was cut from the western release, and many people do not even know that Shimura was even in the film. The release of the movie by the Criterion Collection rescued the lost footage and has included it within their US release of the film.

Reception

Won the Golden Palm at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. (It tied with All That Jazz). It was also nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Foreign Language Film).

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai as Shingen Takeda/Kagemusha
Tsutomu Yamazaki as Nobukado Takeda
Kenichi Hagiwara as Katsuyori Takeda
Jinpachi Nezu as Sohachiro Tsuchiya
Hideji Otaki as Masakage Yamagata
Daisuke Ryu as Nobunaga Oda
Masayuki Yui as Ieyasu Tokugawa
Kaori Momoi as Otsuyanokata
Mitsuko Baisho as Oyunokata
Hideo Murota as Nobufusa Baba
Takayuki Shiho as Masatoyo Naito
Koji Shimizu as Katsusuke Atobe
Noburo Shimizu as Masatane Hara
Sen Yamamoto as Nobushige Oyamada
Shuhei Sugimori as Masanobu Kosaka

Quotes

Shingen Takeda: Even with this resemblance, Nobukado, he is so wicked as to be sentenced to crucifixion. How could this scoundrel be my double?
Kagemusha: I only stole a few coins. A petty thief. But you've killed hundreds and robbed whole domains. Who is wicked, you or I?

Shingen Takeda: I am wicked, as you believe. I am a scoundrel. I banished my father and I killed my own son. I will do anything to rule this country. War is everywhere. Unless somebody unifies the nation and reigns over us, we will see more rivers of blood and more mountains of the dead.

Masakage Yamagata: How old are you, sire? Fifty-three, as I remember.
Shingen Takeda: Why?
Masakage Yamagata: And you still behave like a five-year-old child. People gather, scatter, they go left and right following their interests. That is not surprising. But then I find you like this. With such a narrow mind, you must not dream of rulership. Go back to your own domain. You are a mountain monkey. You should be gathering nuts in the mountains of Kai.

Nobukado Takeda: I know it is difficult. I was for a long time the lord's double. It was torture. It is not easy to suppress yourself to become another. Often I wanted to be myself and free. But now I think this was selfish of me. The shadow of a man can never desert that man. I was my brother's shadow. Now that I have lost him, it is as though I am nothing.