“When it’s finally known that the person is gone, what will happen to the shadow?” —Nobukado
Today’s quick review: Kagemusha. In 1573, Lord Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai) is shot and killed in battle. Obeying his dying wishes, his brother Nobukado (Tsutomu Yamazaki) installs a body double (Tatsuya Nakadai) in Shingen’s place and maintains the ruse that Shingen is alive. In spite of the double’s best efforts, Oda Nobunaga (Daisuke Ryu), the enemy commander, becomes suspicious and sends spies to determine whether Shingen is real or fake.
Kagemusha is a historical Japanese war drama directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story centers around Lord Shingen’s unnamed look-alike, a petty thief who becomes one of the ruler’s most faithful servants after his death. The double and his advisors must navigate a political maze as they fend off the forces of Nobunaga, deal with Shingen’s hotheaded son Katsuyori (Kenishi Hagiwara), and, above all, keep the death of the lord a secret.
The heart of Kagemusha is the double himself. Saved from execution by Nobukado, he starts the film as shallow and self-interested, willing to cut out at the earliest opportunity. But following his master’s death, he is inspired to do more. Over the course of months, he works hard to keep up the ruse, becomes attached to the people of the kingdom, and earns the grudging respect of Nobukado and the lord’s advisors.
Kagemusha takes a different tack than some of Kurosawa’s other work. The story operates at two different levels: the minutiae of the deception and the broader political context. The double concerns himself with the former, trying to imitate Shingen as exactly as possible while covering for the lapses in his performance. However, the double has almost no control over the political maneuvering going on around him, leaving him a passive observer.
The result is a sympathetic protagonist who can never advance his position, only avoid failure. This gives the film an odd sort of appeal. Instead of focusing on tactical victories, clever gambits, and conquest and defeat, Kagemusha focuses on how the double is affected by these things. The film is also stylized in places, opting for surreal imagery to convey several of the battles and the double’s shifting state of mind.
How much you get out of Kagemusha will depend on your taste for its subject matter. Kagemusha is a sweeping look at war and politics during a pivotal period in Japanese history, as seen through the eyes of one of its humblest figures. For the right viewer, this premise will work just right. But a less enthusiastic viewer may find that Kagemusha cuts out the best aspects of the genre without adding as much humanity as Kurosawa’s other work.
For a martial arts drama about a body double who comes to replace the original, try Shadow. For a more personal war drama from Akira Kurosawa, try Seven Samurai. For a Kurosawa drama with similar theatricality, try Throne of Blood.
[8.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080979/). I give it a 7.0 to 7.5 for a broad story missing the intimate touch of Kurosawa’s best; your score will vary dramatically.