Not one of Kurosawa's best.

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2012)

Kurosawa said it himself, this is a film that was designed as a dress rehearsal for "RAN", and you can see it.
Kagemusha has a lot of experimentation with shots, colors, and a fairly loose editing style with a kind of free form structure. It's essentially a giant experimentation for what could work in a film, and what doesn't. The style is fairly rushed as well. The kind of care or calculated artwork that we'd normally get from a Kurosawa film is simply not here.
That's not to say that the film is bad, because it isn't, but the kind of careful craftsmanship that we're so used to with a Kurosawa has been given some high octane fuel, and as such we don't get shots that linger too long on one subject. Not shots that are muted in tone. We get lots of moving shots as well; pans, a few subtle zooms, and the occasional tracking shot. This isn't normal for a Kurosawa film. Again, here we have a kind of "let's shoot this to see what we've got" kind of movie. The culmination of which we will eventually see in the film he shot afterwards; "RAN".
"Kagemusha" is also a bit of a departure for Kurosawa in that it deals with real historical events and characters. Most of the films I've seen by Kurosawa have dealt with traditional fiction. But here we a kind of docudrama, albeit altered for dramatic effect and for the big screen. Again, not such a big deal here, because the film does work.
Lots of people heap praises on this film, and where I admit to its craftsmanship, it's essentially a preparation for another film. Watch it for what it's worth and enjoy what you can.