Sadly my blu-ray copy had noise coming from the right channel soundtrack on analog mode. This problem was not present on the commentary soundtrack. I think I will buy the standard dvd instead. I do not find the differnce of picture quality of this particular title so great on my tube hdtv screen. Jean

To bad american film makers cannot go back and make film's like this one. just buy it and enjoy it over and over.

If you're a fan of classic Japanese film, this is a must for your collection. The Blu-ray rendention is gorgeous, even projected on my 8-foot HT screen. If you've never seen this film before, you'll love it's classic Japanese themes, beautiful costumes, epic scenes with thousands of extras, and of course, the fantastic Japanese cinematography that you'd expect. As the saying goes, "if this is the sort'a thing you like, you'll REALLY like this."

Bringing writer and director Akira Kurosawa's 1980, three hour epic to the big screen proved to be nearly impossible, for studios were not willing to back the creator of past classics such as YOJIMBO and THE SEVEN SAMURAI for a period piece set during the Warring States period in 16th century Japan. Kurosawa had not directed a film in over five years when he began trying to secure financing for KAGEMUSHA, so the director decided to take brush to paper, creating hundreds of watercolor storyboards of the film as he saw it in his mind. With the unimaginable, but very likely reality that his movie would never get made, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola famously stepped in, lending their names to the project as Executive Producers so that the film would have backing for an international release, and working with 20th Century Fox, helped finance the rest of the budget in conjunction with Toho in Japan. Both Lucas and Coppola were part of a new generation of filmmakers who had found tremendous success in the 1970s and who were heavily influenced by Kurosawa's early body of work that the directors were each introduced to in film school. The project became a passion for the three filmmakers, and allowed Lucas and Coppola to learn first hand the techniques that made Kurosawa a master. The Criterion Collection has now released a completely remastered and restored high-definition edition of the classic film on Blu-ray that is bound to please both Kurosawa fans and cinema aficionados alike.

KAGEMUSHA follows the story of a thief who is saved from execution because he bares an uncanny resemblance to the local warlord, Shingen Takeda (Tatsuya Nakadai). The thief is soon employed as Shingen's double, but when Shingen dies, his retainers try to pass the thief off as the actual warlord to keep Shingen's estate and holdings intact. What develops is a very intriguing study of how power affects an individual, and more importantly, the question of how honor differs between two individuals, who though they look exactly alike, hail from different birthrights.

KAGEMUSHA went on to win the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. With this new release, it is very easy to see why. The scope of KAGEMUSHA easily equals Kurosawa's classic films from the 1950s, with vast battle scenes of hundreds of armor clad extras fighting each other with swords and on horseback, but as Kurosawa regularly does, the enormity of these scenes are tightly woven together with much smaller and more intimate scenes that allow the complexities of the characters to fully be realized without ever imposing a heavy hand on the part of the director. This is most evident in the opening scene of the movie, a scene that lasts for just under seven minutes and features only three actors, one of whom is in actuality playing dual roles (Tatsuya Nakadi as both Shingen and the Thief). What is so interesting to note about this scene aside from its length though is the fact that the camera never moves. Kurosawa keeps the framing completely fixed, never allowing a pan, a tilt or even a zoom. Even the actors, who are each seated in seiza position, barely move, but each is still able to convey the power and the intricacies of their characters. As the Thief does begin to shift his position though, turning to face Shingen, but still never rising, there is the effect that a still painting is beginning to come to life. This blending of the art of the static and the art of the moving is what Kurosawa then utilizes as the central theme throughout the rest of the film, both on an aesthetic level as well as an emotional one.

While Kurosawa may best be known for his beautifully photographed black and white films that each had such a rich depth of field with lush contrasts, KAGEMUSHA shows just how adept the late director was in a color medium as well. The film is visually stunning and does rely on the visual element, just as much as the spoken, to convey its message. The screen is approached as a canvas, and Kurosawa paints strokes of colors across it simply by having a character dressed in a particularly colored costume move a certain direction. Kurosawa masterfully uses color then to not only set a tone for a scene, but to tie together varying themes within the film, allowing him to find an interrelation among the different elements of his production and unifying them into both an accordance, and at times disjointedness, with one another. In a scene where the Thief becomes lost in his own nightmare, Kurosawa and art director Yoshirô Muraki create such a remarkable set that the melding of the contrasting colors become surreal in nature as it personifies the character's own internal conflicting emotions and becomes a key example of the depth Kurosawa incorporates into the film.

KAGEMUSHA is a superb movie and one that should not be missed. Wonderfully acted and brilliantly conceived visually, the film at no point feels like it is a three hour epic. While movies such as THE SEVEN SAMURAI and THRONE OF BLOOD may be regarded as quintessential Kurosawa works that belong in everyone's collection who has a deep love for cinema, KAGEMUSHA should equally be included as well, for the film shows the culmination of a brilliant director's career and the progression of his artistic vision.

For the Blu-ray release, The Criterion Collection has once again proved to be second to none when it comes to bonus materials. Included with the beautiful high-definition transfer of the film are: a nineteen minute featurette of modern day interviews with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola who discuss their involvement in the film, a forty-one minute Japanese documentary of the making of the film featuring interviews with cast and crew that is subtitled, a forty-four minute featurette shwoing Kurosawa's original watercolor storyboards that are edited together with the accompanying dialogue and music from the film, a gallery of Kurosawa's storyboards shown side by side with their filmed counterparts, theatrical trailers and a collection of five Suntory whiskey commercials that Kurosawa shot while making KAGEMUSHA. There is of course audio commentary, and to round things out, there is an amazing booklet in the Blu-ray case that has reproductions of Kurosawa's storyboards along with an essay on the film and an interview with Kurosawa from 1981, The bonus materials are stellar and will keep film buffs entertained for hours. Buy this release now, you will be glad you did.

I had to watch Kagemusha twice to really appreciate it. The first time I was more obsessed with my computer and missed key parts, the second time I enjoyed it thoroughly. The use of color and photography is amazing and considering how low the budget was, Kurosawa did a very nice job. The story of a Japanese lord who dies and the clan who pushed a thief who resembles the lord to take his place. Of course, he can only live as long as the clan finds him useful. Great movie.