Wednesday 20 December 2006

Kagemusha

The English translation for Kagemusha is, literally, Shadow Warrior. This film speaks of a reformed thief, Kagemusha, who acts as a double for a Japanese warlord (Shingen) after he dies. Imagery in the film is represented quite nicely with cinematography and lighting. The film marries the nobility and the proletariat by a masquerade, exposing insidious issues of the class system - without aristocratic attachment, the lower classes lose all their meaning in feudal Japan. As Shingen's death is gradually brought to light, his double, or shadow, fades from memory as he is no longer useful in upkeeping the masquerade of a living general.

There are many aesthetic scenes in the movie that are rich in symbolism. One only has to watch and absorb the manifold meanings of graphic shots. All things considered, the running time of the film can be truncated from its current 179 minutes without compromising its depth. There are several key scenes which the rest of the artistic material should be woven around, in order to generate greater focus. The prologue and the epilogue are especially fitting frames for the film as they encapsulate the motivation and consequence of the entire film. These should be carefully considered in order for one to derive greater enjoyment and appreciation of the film.

The film is produced by Akira Kurosawa, with the help of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola in liaison with 20th Century-Fox. The DVD is available at the esplanade library.

Anon.

1 comment:

Bijoy said...

Nice post, its a really cool blog that you have here, keep up the good work, will be back.

Warm Regards

Biby Cletus - Kagemusha Movie Review