Does Kurosawa really need colour ?

Rating: Null/10 (25 March 2008)

After noticing this film for several years, I finally bought its DVD.
Rather than impressing me, the colourful Japanese costume fashion show was more of a distraction. Similarly, albeit more watchable, is the the unabashed display of colour in all its assaulting splendor. There is nothing that Kurosawa does best that he has not already done in black and white, beautifully.
Kurosawa is a great master of capturing motion on the screen (as Ozu is the great master in capturing stillness on the screen). The many (perhaps even too many) magnificent scenes in Kagemusha of thundering steeds are indeed spectacular. But he had already done better - think of the scene in Sanjuro (1962) constructed with a series of rapidly cut shots each with a young samurai running swiftly in the street, at various directions. The whole series takes a few seconds but the momentum generated is immense.
Underneath its glossy, dazzling visual extravaganza, Kagemusha fortunately still offers all the things you look for and expect from Kurosawa  intense drama, easy sense of humour, a deep feeling for human nature  both good and bad, masterful storytelling. But sadly, Kagemusha concludes with a chilling sense of despair, reflecting perhaps a sense of hardened cynicism. I'll take Akahige (Red Beard) (1965) any day.