This year marks the 20th anniversary of Akira Kurosawa's death, and I have to admit that 20 years after his death, his soul is still sitting on the throne of Japanese cinema. No one today adapts Shakespeare, no one writes an elegy for the shadow, no one uses dreams to express concern for all mankind. We can only recall the master's aesthetics and ideological context by looking back at his works, and to see his film world where both power and emotion are equally important, and the East and the West are both.
There is a relatively bad taste in the current film industry, that is, it is often used to deify the director by stepping down on the "style". Ironically, Akira Kurosawa, who is regarded as the emperor of the movie, said: It is impossible for me to define my own style. For film, "style" is philosophy, it's expression. And Akira Kurosawa just abandoned this philosophy, which is the reason why his works can reveal human nature more widely and thoroughly, and it is also where he is more advanced than other film masters of his time.
If you insist on defining a style for Akira Kurosawa, it can probably be summed up as the keyword "identity". He shoots samurai, civilians, and petty officials. Although there are many types of roles, most of them are expressed through identity crises. Compared with directors such as Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Mikio Naruse who have established a "style", Akira Kurosawa's characters are more secular, and only after establishing an identity can they be stable, that is, he defines the meaning of life and happiness as he defines. Feelings are placed on the act of "identification". The same is true of "Shadow Warrior", a nameless man on the road from thief to hero of the end looking for his identity.
During the period from the age of 55 to 80, Kurosawa's production was fixed at one every five years, "Redbeard" in 1965, "Trolley Mania" in 1970, "Dersu Uru" in 1975 Zara", "Shadow Warrior" in 1980, "Ran" in 1985, and "Dream" in 1990. The reason for this interesting time interval varies, but the five-year window after the filming of "Dersu Uzala" was because the film was not doing well at the box office at the time, and many Japanese studios felt that the filming was black. Zeming's films are no longer so profitable, so investing has become very cautious. And Akira Kurosawa just took advantage of this time to think about two scripts, one is "Shadow Warrior", and the other is "Ran" adapted from "King Lear".
However, when the script of "Shadow Warrior" was finalized, Akira Kurosawa approached a number of Japanese film companies, but they were all closed. Fortunately, the master's followers have already spread all over the world. George Lucas and Francis Coppola in the United States heard about the dilemma of the "mentor" and immediately contacted Fox to ensure sufficient shooting funds. In another anecdote, Akira Kurosawa met the boss of Suntory while he was soliciting sponsorships, who invited him to shoot five whisky commercials, and Coppola made a cameo appearance in two of them. This incident later directly inspired Coppola's daughter Sofia to direct "Lost in Translation," which tells the story of a Hollywood star who came to Japan to shoot commercials.
Closer to home. The era background of "Shadow Warrior" is set in the early period of the Warring States Period in Japan. Takeda Shingen, known as the "Tiger of Jiafei", was seriously injured in the battle with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu's allied forces. The younger brother Xinlian and other confidant retainers found a thief who looked exactly like Xinxuan to deceive the enemy. But three years later, a power struggle broke out in the Takeda family, and the substitute was revealed. The son of Shingen believed that he insisted on fighting regardless of his father's will, and he was defeated in the battle of Nagashino. In the end, the Takeda family was destroyed. .
Most of the content in the film is based on historical facts, and "Shadow Warrior" is also based on reality. In history, it is generally believed that there are three substitutes for Takeda Shingen, one is his younger brother Takeda Shinlian, one is his retainer Kayama Shin-kun, and the other is Ogasawara Gen Yusai. As for the thieves in the film, of course, they are fabricated. Another detail is handled very skillfully by Akira Kurosawa. There is a scene where Oda Nobunaga invites Tokugawa Ieyasu to drink Western wine. Tokugawa feels unpalatable after drinking it. There is no historical source for this episode, but it is true. It reflects the attitude of the two people towards the Western world. Oda has always liked foreign cultures, while Tokugawa has banned the sea and locked the country after the establishment of the shogunate.
In addition to the plot, the most impressive thing about "Shadow Warrior" is the director's composition and coloring skills. The theme of this film is gloomy and pitiful, so its colors are gloomy, mostly red, blue, gray and green in dark tones. Only when female characters appear, there are fuller and brighter colors. Although the colors are rich, the costumes and lighting are always very impressive. cold. At the same time, these extremely melancholy colors show a solemn beauty between the neat lines. For example, the sunset composed of black and red on the marching road has a strong visual impact; in the scene of the water burial of Xinxuan, the boats in the lake and the water and the sky line overlap in the distant view, and the eight vassals sitting on their knees overlap with the lake shoreline. , which is very full of the sense of loneliness in Japanese aesthetics.
Focus on talking about the protagonist of this film, that is, the shadow warrior as Takeda Shingen's stand-in. First of all, in the way of shaping, Akira Kurosawa has both the humor of "Treading the Tiger's Tail" and the seriousness of "Seven Samurai". The former is manifested in Shadow's various adaptability when dealing with Takeda Shingen's grandson, valet, and concubine, showing that although this man is a thief, does not understand etiquette, and behaves vulgarly, he is not clumsy, and he can draw inferences from one case to other people. 's approval. The latter is manifested in the character of Shadow. Akira Kurosawa's works have a strong masculinity, and at the same time often have a strong or implied sense of morality. Even as a thief, Shadow has a chivalrous spirit. From the beginning, he was reluctant to be a substitute, and at the end, he was grateful and begged to serve as a substitute. The impression of a reckless hero gradually became clear.
As mentioned above, the "identity" in "Shadow Warrior" is the shadow's identification with his own identity. To put it another way, it is the dual opposition between the avatar and the deity, and the dual opposition between appearance and reality. From the estrangement at the beginning of being a stand-in to the spiritual fusion at the end, it reflects a metaphysical process. Although Shadow, through his own efforts and a little talent, has infinitely approached Xinxuan himself, and even merged with Xinxuan's soul in the end, in the eyes of others, his efforts are still in vain. This process, combined with the epic atmosphere of Japan's Warring States period, increases the sense of historical heaviness and the sense of fate of the characters.
This sense of fate was revealed in a dialogue between Xin Lian and the shadow. Xinlian said: "It's not easy to suppress yourself and become another person. I often want to recover myself and be free. Shadows are inseparable from people. I am the shadow of my brother. Now that I have lost him, I don't know what to do. Do it." The deity is gone, and the shadow has lost its value of existence. After the deity dies, even if the shadow continues to exist, it cannot be equated with that person, because everyone is unique. This is thought-provoking, and the sadness of the shadow lies in this.
In Kurosawa's boyhood, the suicide of the third brother Bingwu had a profound impact on him. It was the third brother who worked as a commentator in the silent film era who first introduced him to movies. Because of this blow, even if there is hope in Kurosawa's works, it is often abruptly terminated and turned into despair. Shadow's acting skills deceived the enemy, deceived his own people, but he couldn't deceive Takeda Shingen's mount. From the moment he fell off the horse, the tragedy had already begun. Perhaps, "Shadow Warrior" is the only film by Akira Kurosawa that does not give any hope. This despair is also the source of the film's strength.
The last scene of the film is touching. Shadow watched as the Lord's army was slaughtered, or rather, his own army. When he raised the flag and charged towards the enemy alone, it was difficult for anyone to tell what was an appearance and what was an illusion. Until he pursued the flag of "Fenglin Volcano", wearing clothes dyed dark red with blood, fell into the dark blue lake, and finally passed the flag, leaving the audience infinitely disappointed. The epic character of Akira Kurosawa's works lies not in the size of the scene, but in the extraordinary pattern and momentum. "Shadow Warrior" and this scene are just like that, like a strong light, making people dizzy.
♑
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