Akira Kurosawa‘s return to his samurai roots, 1980′s Kagemusha “The Shadow Warrior,” barely came to be due to studios’ budget concerns. The iconic director’s fear that his cinematic vision would never see the light of a lens became an obsession that drove him to paint and sketch over 200 storyboard images. A vivid portal into his filmmaker psyche, their passionate yellow, red, green, and blue hues spilled over into the eventual film — making it one of Kurosawa’s most colorful and visually stunning efforts. It’s a dreamlike epic that owes its existence to the clout of its executive producers (which won over hesitant studios), self-described Kurosawa fans George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

The story, despite its scope, is simple and (though set in feudal Japan in the 1500s) timeless. It unfolds in a spare, dim wood room occupied by three men: the warlord Shingen, his brother Nobukado, and a base-born thief recently rescued from execution. The atmosphere is heavy with intrigue as Nobukado, who sometimes doubles as the warlord, proposes that the thief — Shingen’s spitting image — would make an excellent “shadow” should need arise for another impersonator. Not a bad idea, since Shingen’s Takeda clan is embroiled in a civil war. Takeda has the upper hand until an enemy sniper shoots Shingen from inside a besieged castle. The thief then finds himself thrust into the role of warlord full-time, ever in danger of being discovered — by Shingen’s adversaries as well as his allies — warring with his scoundrel nature and nobler intentions, at times tripped up by the headiness of his new power and haunted by Shingen’s spirit.

Kagemusha‘s clashing themes typify Kurosawa films, especially those of his earlier career — illusion vs. reality, selfishness vs. selflessness, the comical vs. the ominous. The film’s perspective shifts from the emotional intimacy of clandestine conversations to the artistic distance of panoramic battle scenes, and in classic Kurosawa style, every scene is infused with poetic beauty. From the seemingly endless slo-mo of thrashing horses and surreal flaming-red skylines, to serene gray, frothing waves and silent white snowfalls framed with a minimalist Japanese artistic sensibility. Nature, as usual, also bends to Kurosawa’s vision — misty rivers, the omnipresent wail of the wind. Akira’s storyboard images and camera most unexpectedly collide in a nightmare sequence where it seems the thief has wandered into the psychedelic palette of one of his watercolors.

In the end all the strategy and struggle only remind us of humanity’s powerlessness against the current of time, and that the key to a good warlord impersonation is in the mustache: you have to stroke it just so…

Special Features:

The lengthy supplements include an audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince and…

Lucas and Coppola on Kurosawa – In 2004 interviews the two producers share what Kurosawa means to them and recollect how they became Kagemusha‘s saviors. They also touch on the topic of icons of cinema that can’t get work later in their careers due to their inability to continue to reinvent themselves. And respectfully hint that they’re not so sure Kurosawa managed such a rebirth with Kagemusha.

Documentary – A collection of interviews with Kurosawa and Kagemusha actors, this “documentary” is more of an admiring ode to Kurasawa seeded with aimless actor anecdotes. Most compelling is the controversy behind the firing of the film’s first lead actor (suggesting Akira is not always wonderful to work with). Most disturbing are vague accounts of the use of anesthesia to transform healthy horses into writhing beasts for death scenes.

Kurosawa’s Continuity – A 44-minute reconstruction of Kagemusha through Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches. Alternately reminiscent of a motion comic and a tour of an exquisite art gallery.

A Vision Realized – AK’s storyboards side by side with their corresponding scenes.

Suntory Whiskey Commericals – What’s more epic than a Kurosawa film? An epic Suntory whiskey commercial pimping Akira and Coppola’s relationship on the set of Kagemusha. (Kurosawa had to pay the bills somehow…)

The DVD also includes a booklet featuring an essay tracing Akira’s transition from his early career as a painter to Kagemusha’s film pageantry, and an in-depth interview with the director — all illustrated with his paintings. A print treasure for those who haven’t entirely surrendered to the digital age.

Kageumusha is available now as part of The Criterion Collection.

Tags: kagemusha, kurosawa