Shadows and Madness

We've been watching the new Hiroyuki Sanada Shogun, and it got us in the mood for some samurai stuff. So I picked up. Kurosawa's later masterpiece, Kagemusha (1980). This is a rewatch, but I don't think we've seen it since it came out.

The first scene is simple: Three men sitting on the floor in front of a wall. In the center is lord Takeda Shingen, played by Tetsuya Nakadai. He sits on a thick mat, elevating him inches above the others. On his left is his brother, played by Tsutomo Yamazaki. He tells his brother about the third man, a condemned thief, also played by Nakadai-san. Because of his resemblence to the lord, he could be useful as a stand-in, or shadow-warrior, kagemusha. The thief is unrepentant, and rails at Shingen as a murderous. warlord. Shingem laughs this off, and directs that he be trained to be his stand-in, if needed.

Years later, Shingen is laying siege to a castle. He hears that someone in the castle plays a flute beautifully every night, and decides to go listen. A shot rings out, and his army retreats. It turns out Shingen has been hit, but they are keeping this secret. Just before he dies on the way back to his fief, he demands that his death (if it comes) should be kept secret for three years to give his clan time to regroup, and that they should never move against the enemy, but stay at home. And so he does die.

To keep the secret, they find the thief and get him to take the lord's place, without telling him that his double has died. But, being a thief, he creeps about the palace and finds a huge treasure jar. He breaks in, and finds that it contains the corpse of Shingen. 

Shingen's son, played by Kenichi Hagiwara, wants to take his rightful place as lord, and he wants to bring the fight to his enemies. The kagemusha presides over a council meeting where most don't realize that he is an imposter. Hagiwara tries to subtly expose the kagemusha by asking him to make a decision. Nakadai-san has learned enough about the lord to successfully impersonate him, stating that like the mountain, which is his symbol, they will not move.

But of course, he is finally found out - he couldn't ride the master's wild horse, and he doesn't have the right scars. So he is cast out, and the son takes over rule, and begins attacking their enemies.

Here, Nakadai-san begs to be allowed to serve the clan, and watches in horror as they are beaten in battle against musketeers. Maddened, he attacks as well, and is killed.

I remembered this movie mainly for the masses of soldiers, flying banners from poles on their backs, running across battlefields. The banners are there, all colors and motion. These scenes are amazing, but aren't the only thing in the movie. There are also detailed scenes of the enemies trying to figure out if Shingen was alive or not, including a detailed investigation into how he was shot (maybe?) in the dark. 

But most of all, I was fascinated by Nakadia-san's close-ups. Especially as he descneds into madness at the end, his face resembles the classic stage make-up of a King Lear or Don Quixote (I read this book in high school).

Of course, Nakadai-san played Lear in Kurosawa-san's next movie, Ran. He's been our favorite Japanese actor (next to Mifune-san) since forever, so we loved this. 

I was surprised at the roughness or simplicity of some scenes. Like the first scene, which is just three actors in a single locked off shot. Of course, one actor played two characters, so there are technical requirements, but I expected more elegance from a filmmaker of Kurosawa's caliber. I think it was partly budget - the studio was not behind him at all, and Lucas and Coppola had to help out. But I think some of it was Kurosawa's constant invention, reaching for something he didn't always attain, and not being satisfied with doing the same thing over and over.