| The Shadow Warrior - Kagemusha (1980)
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| Front Cover |
Actor |
Back Cover |
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| Tatsuya Nakadai |
Shingen Takeda/Kagemusha
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| Tsutomu Yamazaki |
Nobukado Takeda
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| Kenichi Hagiwara |
Katsuyori Takeda
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| Kota Yui |
Takemaru
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| Shuji Otake |
Yamagata
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| Daisuke Ryu |
Oda
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| Kamatari Fujiwara |
Doctor
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| Masayuki Yui |
Iegasu Tokugawa
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| Mitsuko Baisho |
Oyunokata
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| Kaori Momoi |
Otsuyanokata
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| Jinpachi Nezu |
Sohachiro Tsuchiya
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| Hideji Otaki |
Masakage Yamagata
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| Hideo Murota |
Nobufusa Baba
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| Plot |
| Just as many American studio-era directors found acclaim abroad that was denied them in their home country, by 1980 Akira Kurosawa's reputation outside Japan exceeded his esteem at home. As uncompromising as ever, he found considerable difficulty securing backing for his ambitious projects. Unsure he would be able to film it, the director, an aspiring artist before he entered filmmaking, converted Kagemusha into a series of paintings, and it was partly on the basis of these that he won the financial support of longtime admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Set in the 16th century, when powerful warlords competed for control of Japan, it offers an examination of the nature of political power and the slipperiness of identity. For some time, Shingen Takeda Tatsuya Nakadai has been able to stay removed from the heat of battle by using his brother Nobukado Tsutomu Yamazaki as a double. As the film opens, Nobukado offers another option, having discovered a condemned thief (also played by Tatsuya Nakadai) bearing an uncanny resemblance to the warlord. After he insists on witnessing the fall of an enemy in person, Shingen falls victim to a sniper's bullet, forcing his advisers to present the thief as the fallen warrior. At first awkward in his new position and plagued by dreams in which the spirit of his double confronts him, he slowly grows into the role even as his enemies begin to advance on his kingdom. The winner of the Palm D'Or at Cannes, Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior has also been released as The Double. — Keith Phipps |
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Drama; Foreign; War |
| Director |
Akira Kurosawa |
| Producer |
Akira Kurosawa |
| Writer |
Masato Ide; Akira Kurosawa |
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| Studio |
Criterion |
| Country |
Japan
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| Language |
Japanese |
| Audience Rating |
PG |
| Running Time |
179 mins |
| Movie Release Date |
10/6/1980 |
| Color |
Color |
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| Personal Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Seen It |
No |
| Index |
448 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Purchase Date |
4/18/2005 |
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| Product Details |
| Edition |
Criterion Collection |
| Region |
 Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
 Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic) |
| Layers |
Single Side, Single Layer |
| UPC (Barcode) |
715515015622 |
| Release Date |
3/29/2005 |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Packaging |
Custom Case |
| Audio Tracks |
 JAPANESE: Dolby Digital Surround |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
2 |
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Extra Features
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| Color Closed-captioned Widescreen |
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