Kagemusha (1980)

SYNOPSIS: When a warlord dies, a peasant thief is called upon to impersonate him, and then finds himself haunted by the warlord’s spirit as well as his own ambitions. In his late, color masterpiece Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa returns to the samurai film and to a primary theme of his career—the play between illusion and reality. Sumptuously reconstructing the splendor of feudal Japan and the pageantry of war, Kurosawa creates a historical epic that is also a meditation on the nature of power.

AVAILABLE IN DOUBLE-DVD AND BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITIONS:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer (with DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 soundtrack on Blu-ray edition)
• Audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
• Lucas, Coppola, and Kurosawa, a 19-minute interview piece in which directors George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola discuss Kurosawa and Kagemusha
• A 41-minute documentary on the making of the film
• Image: Kurosawa’s Continuity, a 44-minute video piece reconstructing Kagemusha through Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches
• Suntory Whiskey commercials made on the set of Kagemusha
• Gallery of storyboards painted by Kurosawa and images of their realization on-screen
• Theatrical trailers and teasers
• PLUS: A 48-page booklet featuring an essay by scholar Peter Grilli, an interview with Kurosawa by renowned critic Tony Rayns, and biographical sketches by Japanese film historian Donald Richie (NOTE: Richie’s piece not included in Blu-ray edition)