Kagemusha (1980) [Movie Review]

Kagemusha tells the story of a thief who is forced to impersonate a recently deceased warlord.

Since I have little time, I will keep this short. This film was great! I had been trying to watch it for a while, but it's length was always just slightly too long for my schedule. However, the film does not feel nearly as long as it is. While it clocks in at almost 3 hours, it felt as if it were just under 2 hours. I know that does not seem like much of a change, but it is a fairly big deal.

On top of the wonderful writing, which featured a brilliant mix of comedy and drama, the film simply looked beautiful. In it's release, it was the most expensive Japanese film to date, and it shows. Every set piece and every unity of clothing looked superb.

A few scenes featured very over-the-top acting, but this is the case with many films of the time, so I can't fault it. Overall, the movie was wonderful.

Rating: 9/10

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